Changes
by J.A. Carlton
Summary: The wraith; drawn to his pockets of darkness, his ancient soul-energy, and his hunter's prowess has taken control of Dean. With time running out before Dean is lost to the creature Sam is left to hunt his own brother. DeanAngst! Warverse compliant.
1. Chapter 1

Changes – spn fic – chapter 1.

By: sifi.

Disclaimed? Why must you keep reminding me that I don't own them?

Loved? It'll have to be enough.

OOooOO

Phoenix, Az.

_Oh my GOD ... this is... huh... ahhh! _He sat back on his heels, his arms outstretched, a beatific grin on his face while blood ran down his naked arms. The blade in his hand waggled in front of the face before him with its wide terrified eyes. Somewhere in the back of his brain Alastair's voice rang, many of the very words he'd resisted for thirty years were now coming through his mouth, but he didn't mind. It wasn't the first time after all.

"Beg! And you can be done." His hand with the blade came down again and blood arced against the wall, "All you have to do is beg and you can be done with all this ... nastiness..." he leaned forward, his mouth close to the man's ear while the blade slid to a rest on his low abdomen just above his root, "Just once." He looked into the man's eyes, "just between you and me. Come on..." he smirked, the tip of the blade penetrating the low belly just by a millimeter.

Again the man shook his head, droplets of sweat and blood flying off in all directions.

The body of Dean Winchester leaned forward, one hand twined in the man's hair, at the front of his scalp while pushing his head down hard. He leaned forward, his lips close to the man's ear, "Come on, just once... one quick little, 'pleeeeeaaasseee'?" He shook his head along with the man tied spread eagle on the wooden table, "No?" he sighed leaning forward to rub his body's cheek against the man's. The thing inside the hunter laughed as the human in its control squirmed and jerked his head away, a look of intense distaste on his face, "I give you hope. One little plea, one little, 'please not me!' it's not too much to ask." he grinned snaking his tongue out over the man's cheek and across his mouth, "I am the last person you will ever talk to. I'm the last chance you will _ever_ have." He smiled pulling his victim's head to the side, his teeth closing on his ear-lobe. A jerk of his head had half the bit of flesh in his mouth as the man beneath him screamed and finally gave in to the whimper inside.

"Beg me... just once please?" He smiled before kissing the man's lips then leaned back, "Typical." He shook his head, "Hypocrite."

"Phhuh ooo!" the naked man on the table ground around the gag in his mouth.

It leaned forward smiling into the man's eyes, "You're not my flavor. This one prefers females of the species. But you, you'd like to. I tasted it in your nature. Men, boys... I know what you like." He sighed and straightened up just a bit sliding that keen point up his captive's fluttering belly, over his breastbone until it came to rest at the divot of his throat, "And now you know what I like... just one little word," he stood the blade on its point letting the weight slowly increase. But still the man shook his head.

"Okay then. Looks like I go home disappointed." Dean's mouth smirked as his hand pressed the blade slowly into the man's throat just below the adam's apple. He sat for a moment listening to the gurgles, the air hissing, the choked cries that seemed to squeal out around the steel then got up and made his way to the door that led down into the basement.

Heavy booted feet moved down the springy plank board stairs. At the bottom of them, on the wall was a switch.

It was interested in the dark places that humans lived with, and its new host seemed to know an awful lot about all different kinds of them.

Metal clinked somewhere off to the left.

Straight ahead was a workbench. It knew the tools on it because its host knew them. Tin snips, pruning shears, steel link chain, bolt cutters, wrenches, blow torch, solder. He moved slowly very curious about some of the feelings that the sight of some of these implements brought to his new home. Some of these things made his belly flutter and flip at the same time they made his throat dry and made him want the sharp burn and sting of whiskey. His hand picked up the bolt cutters and turned to the left, his eyes falling on a dirty flesh colored blob that he realized was a human child curled in a ball. Its arms were stretched up over head, bound by chains and for a long moment he kept his head down, plaintive whimpers cutting into the air turning to startled yips at the sound of the bolt cutters moving through the metal that held him prisoner.

His hosts' tummy did strange squirrelly things as the filthy and badly beaten naked child looked into his eyes as if he was looking at an angel. Amazement, uncertainty, hope and distrust fought for purchase on the boy's face as the host cut the cuffs apart.

"When they come, you tell them you didn't look at me, is that clear?" his human voice asked softly while his hand felt compelled to slide down the boys' disbelieving face.

The child nodded and skittered across the room to a small mountain of clothes.

He looked around the room at three other stations exactly like this one, one of them occupied by a long dead child then returned to the upper level of the house. Just before the dining room where the man lay still on the table, his eyes fell to a phone.

Taking the handset from the cradle the host dialed 911 and placed the handset up on the top shelf of a curio cabinet.

"Are you dead yet?" he whispered leaning in. A quick dilation of the man's pupil and a faint gasping move of the throat told him almost, but not quite. "Good." He smiled pulling the blade from the man's throat, then sweeping it deeply across it all the way down to the vertebrae. A quick shift and the blade sank into the man's chest. With a forceful sweep he sliced open the body cavity then quickly severed the man's aorta. He wanted no chance for this human to live.

Sliding quickly back into his jacket he cleaned his blade on the man's jeans, tucked it away and headed out the back door, removing the latex gloves once he was outside. He took a moment to peer into the kitchen door and note the child standing, staring at the eviscerated man and crying. Not too far away the sound of a siren cut the night as he crossed through several back yards, clinging to shadows until it reached the Impala parked far enough away so neither he nor it would be seen as the police approached.

Once in the car he reached down onto the passenger floor and picked up the portion of folded newspaper. The mugshot of the dead man he'd left behind shown above a headline that read, "Convicted Serial Child Killer Released After Successful Rehabilitation."

"Successful rehabilitation my ass." It let the host snarl before the body crumpled the page of newspaper and tossed it into the back seat then reached down for another.

OOooOO

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sam asked glancing at the pale and nearly unconscious woman beside him.

"Mm," she croaked breathing shakily and trying not to cry.

"You really should get to a hospital," Spencer suggested from the back seat as the youngest Winchester maneuvered Laura's car deftly over still nearly empty streets back toward the Red Roof Inn.

She reached across, dropping her hand onto Sam's arm her voice nearly inaudible but her distress palpable, "I can't feel him."

"Why would it take him instead of me? I thought you guys said it had already kinda chosen me." The young FBI agent asked.

"Spencer give me your room key," Sam ordered sliding the car up to the front door and tossing it into park while receiving the plastic card. "Park the car and get inside." He commanded moving quickly around to the slowly opening passenger door, "Watch your head," he told her as he crouched down and drew her from the seat.

"...can walk."

"I'm faster." He assured her keeping her cradled in his arms as he pushed through the doors. "A little too much fun," he plastered an embarrassed smile on and moved quickly down the hall toward the room they'd procured the previous night. "What the hell were you thinking going out and trying to walk on the freakin' highway instead of having the sidhe move you through the veil!" he growled edging them into the room and gently situating her on the bed.

She shook her head, "they got me as close as they could but the seal... Sam what happened?" she asked only knowing that she awoke from a draught induced sleep feeling as if part of her very soul had been cut off.

The youngest Winchester crouched down and looked into her eyes, "It chose him instead. For some reason it chose Dean instead of Spencer and if we don't get to him, and get that thing out of him it's going to become part of him and it will probably drive him to his death."

She shook her head trying to hold back the tears as Spencer entered the room and made sure to lock the door behind himself.

Sam pulled his phone and dialed from memory then pointed first at Spencer, "You need to leave Dr. Reid. The sooner you're away from here the sooner we can do what we need to..." On the other end of the line he didn't think he'd ever been so glad to hear a friendly voice. "I need a babysitter."

"Sam?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah. Look we got a big problem, you gotta get on the horn to everyone we know and get them to keep a look out for big brother, but no one's to touch him. I just need to know where to find him."

"So put a trace on his cell."

"It's in my hand. He left it at the site." Sam sighed giving the device an unconscious squeeze.

"What site? What's going on Sam?"

"Wraith took him." He said and listened to the phone clatter to the floor on the other end.

A second later, "You're shittin' me."

"No."

"The seal didn't stop it?"

"No."

"Son of a bitch!"

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"Who's the baby sitter for?"

"Laura, she's in a bad way."

"Not that bad..." she groaned and swung her legs over the edge of the bed then doubled over with a piercing cry that brought Spencer to her side and found him trying to get her to settle down again.

"Look, you're not in any shape to be of help so at least don't be a hindrance." He suggested and leaned back a bit at the scathing look she shot him even though he did hold his ground.

"Who are you and why do I care?" She groaned limply while squeezing her knees up to her chest.

"Be nice!" Sam barked taking her completely by surprise, "This isn't some fraction of demon intertwined in his brain Laura it's a fucking wraith alright it'll use him for its own ends then drain him dead!"

"Easy Sam," Bobby soothed on the other end of the line while the sound of heavy brittle pages flipped in the background, "How long ago did it take him?"

"Bout an hour ago, maybe two." He shook his head.

"Alright, the good thing is you've got a couple days before it can seat itself firmly in him."

Sam turned away toward the bathroom and spoke low, "Bobby this thing was set to go after an FBI agent, it marked him at the Bell Rock vortex and instead of going after him it took Dean."

"It switched its target?"

"Yeah."

"You think it has something to do with all that... you know... ancient stuff?" he mumbled then seemed to sigh to himself, "I thought that stuff was all over."

"I hate to burst your bubble but it's _not_ over, it can't be over until we're dead, they're our SOULS!" he hissed through clenched teeth, "Even after we're dead we're just going to wind up other people... there's something else Bobby. Dean died. Back in Pennsylvania I killed him..."

"NO!" Bobby barked, "That BITCH killed him using your powers!"

"Point is..." Sam rolled his eyes but was more grateful than he could have imagined to hear that Bobby understood.

"Right, he flatlined a few times but they got him back Sam, it's not your fault."

The young man shook his head, "That's not what I'm... I want you to go through your books, hell go through everything you've got and I want you to find out if there's any precedence for a soul to be yanked from hell."

"What?"

"He was in hell Bobby. One of those times he flatlined it was for four minutes solid up here, he said it was a full forty years in hell... he said time moves different down there and that he was told he couldn't go after Lilith until his debt to her was expunged since she held the contract on his soul."

"Whoa slow down boy... who told him that?"

"He said it was an angel named Castiel." He listened closely to the sound of their old friend as he slumped back in his creaky old desk chair and huffed hard.

"And on top of this you want me to babysit?" he finally asked.

"I know it's a lot."

"A LOT?! You don't know the half of what you're asking Sam! Forget about the wraith for a minute you're talking about a... oh man...you boys don't do anything half assed do ya?"

Sam leaned out of the bathroom, craning his head around the wall frowning as he looked between Spencer and Laura.

She looked at the young FBI agent then up at Sam as if she knew what he was thinking, "I'll behave... We can research here and keep our eyes and ears open for any signs of him."

"Wherever it goes it's going to cause chaos, probably violence and if ... he can't control it, maybe even death," his eyes turned to Spencer, "My brother is _not_ a murderer."

The young man nodded tightly, his understanding written plainly over his face, "Then you'd better find him before he becomes one."

"Spencer, do you have any way to remote access police calls as they come in?" Laura asked.

With a faint smile the young man nodded, "You figure a seventy five mile radius should be enough?"

"S'a good start, insinuating itself into him will have weakened it a lot. It'll drive him to feed it."

"So we're going to find more mummified remains?" Spencer asked.

"If that's all, that's a good sign." Sam nodded.

Slowly the agent opened his cell and dialed.

"Spencer!" Garcia's voice smiled, "do you have any idea what time it is where you are? It's like four a.m. What's up sweetie?"

"Uh... actually it's about 5:15... can you do me a favor and kinda keep it on the q.t. Garcia?"

"Oooh anything for you my cloak and dagger darling. What do you need?"

He quickly gave her the address of the hotel, "I need you to tap into 911 calls within a 75 mile radius and notify me if you get anything that sounds like a purely chaotic endeavor."

"What kind of Chaotic?"

"Chaotic evil kind... or I guess neutral too."

"Okay so mischief most likely property, most likely malicious and possibly people oriented?" She clarified.

"Yeah, that about covers it." He closed his eyes and bit his lip listening to the comforting sound of her fingers flying over computer keys.

"Anything else you can give me my gentle genius?"

"No, not really."

"Hey is this about that vortex? You would _not_ believe the amount of people who wind up having violent altercations after vacationing in that area. How are you? You're not feeling suddenly homicidal are you?"

At this he actually laughed, "No Garcia, I'm not suddenly feeling homicidal... but I am curious... there were some people down there last night and it sounded like there might have been a scuffle."

"OOooOOOh and you think they might have gone off on a malicious mischief spree?" She surmised.

"It sounded like it... I'd just like to be sure I'm wrong is all."

"Spencer, sweetie you are young, somewhat sheltered, more brilliant than the hope diamond, and very rarely wrong."

"Well let's hope I am this time. Can you send any flags to my cell?"

"Done and done my dear and now I must away to work... some of us aren't lucky enough to have scored a four day weekend!"

"I got six staples in my head how is that lucky?" He asked.

"Oooh is that all it takes? I have a stapler in my office... meh not worth it. Take care of that precious head of yours."

"I will." He smiled.

"Ciao ducky if you need me you know where to ring."

"Thanks Garcia." He smiled shaking his head and nodded to Sam and Laura. "Okay, so now we'll..." his phone pinged.

"Already? What is it?" Sam asked, holding open the phone as he approached.

Spencer shook his head, "An anonymous 911 call...15 minutes ago..." he pressed the phone to his ear, "they found a child in with the body... vic was eviscerated, a dead child manacled in the basement of the home, a pile of children's clothes, sounds like the surviving boy was held prisoner and abused, there's evidence he was beaten and possibly sexually abused, they found a binder full of pictures of kids, looks like it goes back years." He reached to the night table and copied down the address easily reading something in each of their faces. _They believe he did this... if he did it could indicate an identification with the victim, so he's probably be abused himself, _ then flipped the phone closed and looked at Sam, "Would a wraith care about the kind of person it was going to kill?" he asked.

He watched Laura and Sam share a look, "I'll call you back later." Sam said into the phone and closed it catching the car keys the agent tossed to him, "You've got everything you need?" He asked Laura.

She motioned to Spencer, "Human repository of nearly infinite knowledge?" then patted the laptop, "The internet...close enough," she nodded, "Call me as soon as you know something."

"I will." He nodded leaning in and kissing her temple, "Be nice." He warned gently.

"I love brains... why do you think I love you two so much?" she smiled weakly as he left the two alone grateful that Spencer hadn't left when he'd told him to.

"So..." the young agent smiled and steepled his fingers neatly, "would one?"

She eased herself back onto the bed and swung the laptop onto her lap then patted the mattress. "There's more than you understand... and a lot more to it than you think." She sighed, "Wraiths," and shook her head wading through a plethora of Stargate Atlantis sites, merchandise, and conventions, "The show got a lot of it right... you're familiar with it I take it?" she asked.

He shook his head in a futile attempt to deny it then nodded, "I'm familiar with it."

"They feed on life energy," her eyes skimmed his length taking in his build and weighing it against the energy of his intellect, "yours is centered in your intellect..."

"What about your husband?"

"I love him..." she sighed as her eyes filled, "He's so much more than he lets anyone give him credit for...but..." she shook her head.

"There's still more? From what Dave explained to me once they choose someone to latch onto it's almost impossible to stop them."

"And you're wondering if its change of course had anything to do with Imdugud or the sidhe and the fact that we know them."

"Pretty much yeah."

"It's possible." She admitted.

One of the pages she was waiting for finally loaded tearing her attention away from Spencer who, sitting beside her leaned closer also skimming the article about the Serial Child Killer who'd been supposedly successfully rehabilitated and released into society. The man who police had found eviscerated inside his modest suburban home.

"Was he ever abused?" Spencer asked, "You and Neil both think he killed this guy. Why would he specifically go after him if he wasn't?"

"Maybe for the same reason pedophiles get torn apart in prison, cause they deserve to be. And you know as well as I do that there IS no way to successfully rehabilitate one, not chemical castration, not physical castration, the fact is the only possible cure for pedophilia is time. They have to literally out-age it and sometimes they never do."

"Sounds like you've done some psych studies." He commented.

"I was a nurse before I learned to hunt."

"Really?" he asked, "I'm sorry for your loss by the way."

She frowned and shook her head.

He motioned to her belly, "The uh, hemorrhaging... you lost a baby... it was kinda hard not to tell when Imdugud brought you... Dave called it, 'through the veil'?"

A sudden spring of tears fell from her eyes as she nodded pressing her hand over her mouth, "I failed to protect my... I didn't _lose_ it..." she turned her head, and watery though her eyes were he could almost swear he saw something glowing in their depths, a kind of something he'd never seen before and after what he'd encountered in the last 24 hours, that really was saying something, "I failed it..." _and Dean._

Hesitantly the young man touched her forearm, "When you get him back, you guys should talk. He's kinda furious with himself... he blames himself both for the loss and for what happened to you. By the way, just out of curiosity... where's the stalker and how did you get away?" he asked then noting her expression shook his head, "I get a feeling no one would believe me even if you tell me the truth."

"She uh..." Laura huffed a tiny chuckle and dabbed her eyes dry, "I crushed her and left her for the local wildlife."

The last thing on earth that he would have expected was a wholly unguarded truth, from any of them. So far he'd been running on instinct ever since 'Dave and Neil' showed up in his hospital room and there wasn't a single second he'd trade for anything at this point. But at the moment he was having a lot of difficulty reconciling the FBI agent and the seeker of truths that was his nature.

"In your condition?" he asked.

Slowly she turned her gaze to him, "She was a potential threat to them. They are MINE. It's my job to keep them safe." She turned and looked at him pointedly, "Do you _really_ want to help Dr. Reid?"

With a hint of nervousness in his features he pursed his lips, "Wwwwwhat did you have in mind?"

Slowly, the emissary smiled.

OOooOO

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thanks. Very much.

Sifi.


	2. Chapter 2

Changes – chpt 2.

By: sifi

OOooOO

"That's fast!" Officer Kiley scratched his head and eyed Sam.

"I have flag on calls like this, it'd be nice to know if I'm at least in the right neighborhood." He smiled wanly then motioned to the ambulance where the little boy was sitting on a cart, almost catatonic while a female paramedic tended him. "Can I talk to him?"

"You'll be lucky if he even looks at you, just don't touch him, I made that mistake when I tried to move him away from the body... poor kid, he just started shaking and crying..." the officer looked at Sam, his face hard with anger, "If it's your boy that did this, personally I'd be inclined to give him a medal for taking this piece of shit off the map."

"Thanks," Sam nodded turning toward the ambulance. He approached slowly and sat on the bench near the back of the vehicle, out of arms reach of the kid and on the opposite side, it was about as far away as he could get.

"Can you excuse us please?" he asked the pretty EMT.

The boy looked between Sam and the woman, a faint shimmer of panic on his face, "He won't move any closer and I'll be right at the front of the van okay?" She assured him.

Slowly the boy nodded. Sam looked to the woman, "No matter what you hear, you didn't hear anything is that clear?"

"He's been through enough." She warned sliding around to the front of the van.

Once she was gone Sam reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a single bit of good fortune. Several months ago Laura had borrowed Dean's old Child Services I.D. to make one of her own. Fortunately she hadn't given it back to him yet but had remembered it in the glove box of her car. Sam held the badge between his fingers, "I'm going to show you a picture. Can you tell me if this is the man who helped you?"

"He didn't see him." The EMT called from the front of the van.

Sam held it out, hoping. He watched the boys' eyes flick from his face to the picture. His shoulders fell and his gaze moved to the floor before casting a sidelong glance at the young Winchester.

"Yes?" Sam whispered, "He's my partner and he's hurt inside. He needs help, like you did."

If he'd blinked he would have missed the almost imperceptible nod the boy gave before his eyes darted back to the picture and turned glassy before he returned to staring at the wall in front of him.

"Thank you." Sam said with a quick nod then slid out of the ambulance.

"Did he say anything?" Officer Kiley asked as Sam stood on the driveway looking at the house, a dozen memories coming to him, right now, the one on the night Azazel stood in Rosie's bedroom looking at Sam and Dean while his big brother kept him from charging into the blaze.

"No." He comforted himself with the fact that he wasn't lying. The boy hadn't said a word. "How long till the analysts are done with the scene?"

"They haven't even taken the body out yet."

Sam's attention snapped to the front door and he took off at a fast jog. Entering the house he quickly noted the body tied by each limb to a leg of the table.

"Don't untie him yet I need to see the body!" he shouted just as the last knot was about to be pulled. He recognized the handiwork immediately. Dean had used the same knots on him not so long ago the signature half slip for easy release was a dead giveaway.

"Oh my god... what did you do..." he whispered slowing his approach and steeling his stomach. Just from the quantity of blood, the jutting pieces of intestine, the flaps of skin and the chunks of flesh that had been hacked off and lay like hunks of some butcher shop catastrophe on the floor he knew. _"I learned a lot of new ways to carve..."_ he heard Dean's voice in his head, _"... and I climbed off that rack and started putting souls on... I was good at it Sam. And after a while I started to enjoy it." _ _I know why it changed targets. Where did you get all this rage Dean? _But he knew it had been lifetimes coming. His stomach filled with hot bile and he broke out in a cold clammy sweat _I'm going into shock I think. _

Quickly he turned toward the open basement door as someone behind him called, "Can we get this guy outta here now?"

"Yeah," he nodded moving quickly down the stairs and wondering what he was going to see, wondering what Dean had seen.

OOooOO

_It's not coming off! Why won't it come off?_ He wondered feeling the hot cutting sensation of panic crawling up his throat. _There's so much of it...thank God Sammy bought that box of gloves,_ all up his arms from where the gloves had ended, up to the beginnings of his t-shirt sleeves his arms were plastered with dried clingy flakes of blood and rubbery strands of flesh. Outside the bathroom window the sky was starting to gray but inside the foreclosure he'd found, without even so much as his flashlight on, darkness still held sway. Images seemed to strobe in his mind's eye. He had no doubt that it was his hands that had killed a man tonight. The sight of the little boy's tear streaked and terrified face flashed, followed by the glimpse of the dead child still chained not ten feet away. These images were layered over flashing memories of nine hundred eighty seven photos he held locked in a box in the underside of a staircase in his brain.

Under those layered images of the night's deeds and memories from a lifetime ago, he remembered picking up the paper in Arkansas, looking for any other signs of mummified corpses as they made their way to the vortex in search of the wraith. The story had actually been on a back page in the National section. _A serial child killer gets set free and its back page news..._ he remembered thinking. He'd kept the page not really sure why at the time, maybe so he could keep his eyes on the guy. _Would I have killed him a month ago? Before I went to hell and developed my... latest talent? Who really killed him? Was it me or the wraith? _He wondered scraping his nails over his arms, trying to get rid of the last vestiges of blood and flesh on him. _I should call Sam, I need help... soon as I get cleaned up. He can't find out about this. 'sleep'_ a little voice in the back of his brain spoke,_ yeah, I could use some sleep. _

Once he was free of the human debris and the bathroom adequately rinsed he dressed in clean clothes, bundled the blood soaked jeans and t-shirt into a plastic bag and quickly covered the three blocks to the Impala where he snatched the blanket out of the trunk and stretched out in the back seat with his duffel bag as a pillow and promptly fell asleep, his guard falling just enough to give the parasite a slightly firmer grip.

OOooOO

A rapid series of hard 'clacking' finally started to cut through the fog as Dean slowly twisted, draping his arm over his eyes before he peeked up into the bug-like visage of a State Trooper's uniform.

"Mm?" he groaned.

"Sir would you step out of the car please?"

He nodded and slowly sat up, reaching over to unlock the door and gently sliding out while the trooper backed away.

"Wow I really crashed." He grunted feeling the mid morning sun hitting him at the back of his head, "S'up?" he asked.

"Can I see your license and registration."

Still tired, weary down to the bone in fact Dean nodded pulling his wallet and handing over his license then turning back toward the car, "Registration's in the glove box." He muttered and moved when he received a nod from the tooper.

"Mr. Crosby you're a long way away from Ohio, care to explain what you're doing out here?"

His eyes fell on the Glock in the glove box. A momentary vision of pulling the gun and planting a deader right under the rim of that hat, and smack above those mirrored sunglasses filled his mind as a growing tendril of darkness seemed to awaken. _But he didn't do anything. _Part of him protested, _"Everybody's got something to hide, he's probably a wife beater... probably slams his kids around... shoot him." _But as tempting as it was Dean's hand clasped around the registration rather than the grip of the gun.

"Doing a cross country road trip, you know kinda the whole, 'Route sixty six' thing and just couldn't go anymore last night. I had to pull over and crash." He yawned.

"You got any open liquor in there?" the officer asked peering into the back seat.

"Nope." He shook his head and motioned to the open back door without a second thought. _Thank God. Hey by the way there's a plastic bag in the trunk full of clothes soaked in the blood and meat of a serial killer but you'd rather wake me up out of sound sleep instead of going after a piece of shit like that wouldn't you? Self righteous son of a bitch. _

The trooper handed back the license and the registration, "Might I suggest if you need to crash in the car Mr. Crosby that you get to a parking lot instead of a residential neighborhood?"

"Okey dokey. Didn't mean to cause a problem." He nodded and had no idea why he did it as he stuck his hand out.

Human nature's a funny thing. When someone goes to hand you something, whether it's a hand to shake or a hand grenade, it is human nature to want to shake it or take it. The trooper was no exception.

"Enjoy your road trip Mr. Crosby." He offered squeezing and giving a single pump to that hand in his.

But Dean didn't hear the words. His face felt stiff and his smile forced as he nodded through the vision filling his mind.

'_There's something up there... what is it?' he squinted into the darkened distance as something moved along the roadside, 'looks wounded... coyote?' he wondered drawing over to the shoulder and tossing his high beams on. His heart seemed to explode as a hand was raised in the distance and he realized it was a person. _

_Making sure his camera would be pointed right at the woman he slid out of the cruiser and moved cautiously forward. There was the sound of metal whirring in the distance and headlights pointed deep into the nothing as he glanced over the shoulder and into the arroyo. _

_He called for an ambulance on his walkie and moved quickly to the battered and bloodied woman. Her fingers clutched hard to his, desperation traveling between them as she wept with gratitude. _

"_Is there anyone else in the car?" he asked. _

"_No," she hiccoughed. _

"_What happened?" he asked then listened as she told of being slammed from behind, clipped by a speeding eighteen wheeler, and how she'd lost control at the end of the guard rail and simply flipped off the road. _

"Thank you." Dean nodded almost breathlessly and trying to see through the stabbing railroad spike of pain in his brain, _oh god don't tell me Andy's back from the dead, MAN that hurts! _Panting, he fastened his seatbelt and rolled down the windows as the cop drove away.

When the trooper returned home after his shift, he'd shower off the stink of the day, then look at himself in the mirror and wonder when his crows' feet got so deep and where all those new gray's had come from. That night, and in the few that would follow he'd go to bed with his wife, until just under a week after his odd encounter with Mr. David Crosby of Ohio his heart would finally cease and the incongruity of a 43 year old man dying in the body of a 95 year old would leave a lot of head scratching, but not much else behind.

"Too bad," Dean muttered as the trooper and his car disappeared into the distance, "I think I would have enjoyed killing him." _"Don't worry," _his newest little voice seemed to smirk as it grew more confident and just a little more assertive somewhere in the depths of his mind, _"You know, they don't all have to deserve it."_ The voice, like autumn leaves skittering over the sidewalk informed him.

_Shut up! _He commanded.

"_It's just a thought."_

OOooOO

Sam pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car walking back and forth alongside the vehicle, running his fingers through his hair, barely able to feel much else besides his entire body shaking. Over and over again the images sailed through his mind's eye. The dead child, the pile of torn, muddied and bloodied children's clothes, the chains, in other parts of the basement CSI's were discovering bones and fragments of bodies. He couldn't imagine his big brother walking in on something like that, _not after Beyers. No_, couldn't imagine what he would do, _not that I have to... I just saw what he would do... but which one did it, him or the wraith? Not that it matters. God Dean... please don't run from me, please. _He pressed his hand over his mouth as private words hit the air, _"Is _that_ what he learned to do in hell?"_ He dashed to the far side of the shoulder, his belly starting the series of clenches that signaled a vicious upheaval. In seconds as the sight of the pedophile's disemboweled and literally butchered carcass returned to his mind's eye, it was accompanied by the same stench of faintly rotted meat and feces that had permeated the house and now clung to the back of his nose.

His knees folded onto the salmon colored sand as what little he'd been able to put into his stomach quickly escaped. He panted half aware of a small cadre of insects that seemed to appear from nowhere that descended on his offering like it was a gift from the heavens. The concept forced him to double over again and left him with stars exploding in his eyes from the internal pressure. "Desert life..." he grunted leaning back and letting himself rest against the tire for a long moment while he forcibly turned his thoughts from what he'd seen this morning to where he might be able to find his brother.

"If the wraith's in charge there's no telling... if it's Dean..." he sighed and fished his cell out of his jacket pocket and dialed Laura.

"Anything?" He asked without preamble as soon as Spencer picked up.

"She's scrying." The young agent said then added, "Looks like in the area of Tucson."

"I thought that only worked on Charmed?" Sam grunted.

"Apparently it works when you use blood and a personal effect." Spencer explained, "It's actually very interesting, if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes..."

"Tell him the wraith is getting stronger," Laura's voice came through the line from the background.

"I heard. How's she know?"

"How do you know?"

"Because the feel of him is fading, maybe he just can't fight it anymore... or... he's resting or something but right now... the wraith is getting stronger."

"You heard?"

"Yeah. Ask her if she's ever been able to communicate with him from a distance."

Spencer did, "She's shaking her head. There isn't even scientific proof that twins can 'sense' each other in spite of the anecdotal accounts let alone two people..."

"I can feel him from other universes, there's nowhere on this planet I wouldn't be able to feel him." She ground angrily.

"I'm just saying..."

"They have a connection. So far she's never not been able to find him." Sam assured the young man.

"I lost him." She sighed then was on the phone, "You wanna talk to Mustardseed and see if you can convince him to let me open the veil so I can get to Tucson?"

"No. I'm not going to risk Dean being that pissed at me for that long at least not for letting you take a stupid risk." Sam sighed, "Give me the name and address of the motel, maybe sheer habit'll cut me a break."

Laura quickly got the information he wanted then made another offer, "I can try to bind it inside him. Give him a chance to rest and regain whatever strength it's stolen from him, give him a chance to make contact... it might only last a few minutes depending on how strong it is..."

"That's heavy duty magiks, uh uh." Sam shook his head, "At least for now..." he quickly added hearing her grunt angrily, "Whatever happens later, we might need something like that and I'd rather you have more of your own strength built up."

"Stop trying to protect me." She warned.

"As long as you belong to Dean... no. Probably not even if you didn't so shut up." He rose to his feet and headed back to the driver's door. "Don't do anything stupid."

"You're a stubborn bastard you know that right?" She smiled tiredly into the phone.

"Runs in the family...apparently _all_ the different lines... I'll call you later."

"Be safe." She nodded then closed the phone and leaned back and looked deep into Spencer's eyes, "You ready?"

"You're not really going to do this are you?" he asked sliding a shallow silver bowl full of water onto the phone book beside her, at the foot of the bed Mustardseed stood scowling at her, pointing and Spencer wasn't sure but maybe even shouting, "He's not happy about this... I don't see what a few drops of blood, water and some silver is going to do but..."

"It's either this or let me through the veil!" she yelled at the diminutive warrior who stood rigid and while yelling his angry river words at her motioned furiously as well.

"Well then don't watch, I do understand." She shook her head then looking at Spencer motioned to where the warrior stood, "He's one of my best friends."

"This is going to be taxing for you isn't it?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but a lot less than actually going there. If I can find him in the realm between then I can tell Ss... Neil exactly where he is." She smiled weakly, "In the meantime my body gets to rest."

"Some Native American tribes call it a spirit walk, the theory is that you separate your spirit from your body, in your current condition I think I have to agree with Mustardseed. If this is really real, and you CAN do this, I don't think it can be good for you."

A waterfall of moments, each one more torturous than the next even for the centuries before she'd been brought back to her men ripped through her mind like a lunatic slideshow and she began to chuckle. Moments later those chuckled rolled into a fit of giggles and would have cascaded into belly laughter if it hadn't hurt so much. "I don't stay dead for long... haven't for millennia." She gasped slowly settling back down again while clutching and grimacing against the pain.

Finally she smiled and placed her palm against Spencer's cheek, "You're a good boy. Now, how's about we show you some REAL magic?"

OOooOO

"Hello Tucson... Goodbye Tucson..." Dean smirked passing out of the city's limits and heading North East. He glanced at this morning's paper, open to the 'National' section and an article that featured "Old Faithful" and contemplated how the idea of a Supervolcano under its surface has impacted tourism in the economy. He'd seen the article and together they remembered, _"Where were you when you lost her scent?" he'd asked. "Near Yellowstone..." the ancient Assyrian answered. 'Now THAT is a competitor and it's vulnerable.' _He could feel his companion think, _She's pregnant not weak._ Dean advised.

OOooOO

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thanks.

sifi


	3. Chapter 3

Changes – chpt 3.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

_Oooh I HAVE communicated with him like this before… back when that demon tried to trap him in his nightmares! _She recalled as a faint smile turned up the corner of her mouth. "Where are we going?" she asked looking around as the car sped down the highway. "North huh okay…" she could tell by the sun's position and took the opportunity to look around the vehicle to see if there was any clue about where the wraith might be leading them. She knew the chances were slim that she'd actually be able to make contact with him, it was like being a ghost in an empty house. She leaned forward noting the newspaper pages on the floor, as well as the one she was 'sitting' on. She couldn't affect any of these things since it was just her consciousness that was present in the vehicle but she could try to get an idea of what was going on.

"Dean? Can you hear me?" she tried again and swept the transparent image of her hand down his cheek. She wanted nothing more than to touch him, to feel his warmth beneath her hand and to taste his easy loving smile. Her heart burned with pain and seemed to want to draw into itself in despair. "Come back to us Dean. Don't let this thing take you please? Remember how much we love you." She sighed, recognizing the familiar publicity shot of Old Faithful on the newspaper page. "You're stronger than this thing inside you. You are the first King… please… you have to fight this!" she urged softly and stroked the back of his head even though she couldn't touch him. _Imdugud lost Lilith near Yellowstone… you can't go after her alone! No wraith is strong enough to go after her and win!_

"With all he is at my disposal she doesn't stand a chance." Dean's mouth smiled as his hand reached out. Doing the impossible, he grasped her by the throat. His normally luminous green eyes sparkled darkly as her air cut off and her existence began to feel 'pulled' like taffy that was still far too loose.

OOooOO

"Laura?" Spencer rocketed out of the chair as she choked, her body bowing backwards deep into the bed just before a series of convulsions and rasping gasps tore into the room.

He swept away the silver dish and the phone book it rested on and grasped her gently but firmly to make sure she didn't hurt herself. He tapped her cheeks glancing at the fretful sidhe warrior, "What's happening?" he asked and frowned as the male simply shrugged and looked distraught. "Damnit… I need to call…" he wanted to call 911 more than anything else. It was what he was trained to do, it was the right thing to do and he knew it, under normal circumstances. Instead he grabbed her cell and return dialed the last number noticing the name that came up as "Sam" just as she stopped and went suddenly frighteningly lax. Spencer pressed his fingers to the side of her throat breathing a grateful sigh as he felt a pulse there.

"What's up?" the younger brother answered.

"Something's wrong with Laura, she did this spirit walk thing and first she started convulsing and now she's unconscious… I really want to call 911, and Mustardseed looks really worried, wow does this sound weird." he breathed.

"She WHAT!?" Sam barked, "Son of a bitch! She's alive though?"

"Yes."

"Bleeding?"

"Not that I can see."

"Alright," the young hunter's voice frowned through the line. "Look, as long as…"

But Spencer didn't hear most of what he was saying. Movement of her flesh caught his eye as her bony prominences started to become more pronounced and the crows feet around her eyes, and smile lines around her mouth seemed to deepen before his eyes.

"Holy crap!" he breathed feeling his heart race in his chest, "Not good, what do I do? Sam? What do I do it looks like she's starting to mummify…"

"What!?" he barked again, "What the hell did she try to do? God damnit! Tase her. It's got its hooks into her somehow, you have to tase her." He ordered and waited, listening to the sounds of rummaging. A few seconds later he heard the tell-tale clicking of the stun gun and sat on the shoulder of the road, not remembering having pulled over at all, his foot pressing the brake pedal deep to the floor as he waited, barely breathing. He hadn't even realized just yet that the young FBI agent had called him by his real name.

Spencer watched the lines appear to fill and the angles of her bones soften once again then set the stun gun on the night table and picked up the cell. "Okay, I think she's okay, it looks like she's getting back to normal again." He breathed.

"If she tries to do anything other than sleep or work on the computer, I want you to…" Sam ground between clenched teeth then shook his head, "nevermind." He took a couple deep breaths to steady himself and force down his anger, "Did she find out anything?" he asked softly.

"I don't know, she didn't say anything," he grasped her chin, turning her face toward his and gently slapped her cheek, "Laura? Wake up… c'mon… did you see anything? Neil…" he turned his attention back to the cell at his shoulder, "or is it really Sam?" he asked, "needs to know."

Slowly her head moved left to right and a low moan slid from her throat, "Mmm 'ellostone…" she groaned, "Lilith…" her teeth slammed into her tongue as she tried to coordinate herself enough to sit up.

"Stay down," Spencer pushed her easily back, "I had to tase you." Then again returned his attention to the cell, "Did you hear her?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sam huffed, "He's going after Lilith. Listen, our friend Bobby should be there before dinner time, can you stay with her until he gets there?"

"Of course."

"When he gets there Spencer, really, you need to leave. Get yourself away from her, away from Bobby, away from the vortices, all of it, all of _us_ okay?"

"Are you talking about the pre-biblical Lilith?" he asked ignoring the younger Winchester's admonishment.

"Spencer…" Sam sighed, this time far too aware that their covers were as close to being blown as he could risk them being, "Dr. Reid please, once Bobby gets there please."

"I don't know if I can do that. You're asking me to turn my back on actual empirical evidence…"

"That you can't share with anyone!" Sam barked.

"Who says I'm interested in sharing it with anyone? Do you really think I'm going to run back to the bureau shouting that I've actually been in the presence of an Assyrian demi-god while hunting down a mythological creature that decided to go after a reincarnated Lilith!?" he argued starting to feel his ire rising. "I'd wind up _locked_ up and sedated for the rest of my life!" he shook his head, "Uh uh."

Frustration thickened Sam's voice, "I thought he was headed to Tucson."

The young man startled when her hand dropped onto his forearm and her eyes shone oddly bright in their depths. She spoke in that strange and ancient feeling language to the warrior at the foot of the bed who then leaped through the veil, disappearing into thin air for all appearances.

"He's headed North," there was something heavy in her voice as she spoke looking directly at the man who was the FBI's youngest recruit in history, "he will find the bitch and she will kill his vessel if we do not act!" she growled grasping the phone from his hand and turning so she now sat at the side of the bed. "You must awaken and save him."

"Ina?" Sam sighed his frustration into his end. "What the hell am I supposed to do? Pump him full of rocksalt?"

"You will do whatever you must, as will I." she commanded then dropped the phone onto the bed where Spencer picked it up.

"There's something up with her eyes… not like normal reflector cells either like you'd find in a cat or dog… I don't know if I can keep her here."

"Lemme guess, kinda molten copper colored?"

"Uh huh."

"Yeah odds are you're not going to be able to, and honestly, you don't want to try."

"She said she 'crushed' your stalker… I didn't think she could in her condition but… now I'm not so sure." He admitted watching the bathroom door like a hawk.

"Oooh." Sam grunted wincing with the memory of the crossroad demon, _guess it was Inanna then and maybe not Laura_, "Yeah. Look as much as I hate to say it if she tries to leave in this particular state of…"

"Being?"

"Yeah. For your own safety, let her."

"What about your friend Bobby?"

"He knows to stay out of her way, but you, this isn't your field. You got dragged into this and honestly it's time for you to get out before you get hurt."

"Tell me about Lilith." He urged turning the computer toward himself.

OOooOO

"_Don't you touch her!"_ something inside him snapped wide awake. He could feel her inside of him, the warm steely core of her life force moving through him, filling him in a way that was so much more than sexual. The last time he'd felt this 'whole body orgasm' was when he redirected her soul from the burnt out husk of her old body, into the one Tommy had sculpted for her. "Laura?" he gasped as if coming awake from a deep sleep.

"What the hell…" he muttered catching sight of the paper on the seat beside him. "Old Faithful…" _Lilith is around there… Imdugud is hunting her, Cernunnos is running around feeling up the preggers… mmm something a little erotic about that…_ he thought with a wry smile at the same time his root gave a twitch. It was almost as if he could feel Inanna's baby-heavy body in his arms, the infant she carried kicking and pressing against him through her, making his presence known. "Gaaah…" he gasped a deep breath as mist covered his eyes, "What's happening to me? Please… stop this… I can't live like this…" he whispered against the tide of panic in his heart. Fear of losing the man he is today to the memories of another life left him feeling weak and insubstantial. _'It's her fault… if she'd leave me alone everything would be as it's supposed to be…' "No!" 'We could keep her inside forever… her energy is…' "Try to touch her again and so help me I'll pull over and fry us both with the car battery!" 'okay, okay… for now. You'll come around eventually… just think about it.' _That little voice smiled then seemed to yawn, perhaps going to rest for a while.

Taking advantage of the quiet Dean used his knee to steer while his hands raced over and into his pockets looking for his cell but coming up empty. "Ah!" he reached into the glove compartment deep into the far corner of it, behind the Glock and under a stack of maps he shook his head flipping open his dad's old phone the long habit of keeping it charged exactly the stroke of luck he needed at the moment.

Shaking with relief he swiped at the cold sweat running down his face and dialed his little brother.

OOooOO

"Dean! Thank God… where are you?" Sam gasped into the phone, the back of his brain realizing he almost didn't recognize their dad's cell number anymore.

"Heading North on 10, I'm almost at Chandler where are you?"

"Heading South on 10 just outside of Scottsdale, I should be in Chandler in about twenty minutes. Dean you need to come back up to Sedona, we gotta get that wraith out of you."

"S'not gonna happen Sammy, not until we're done. I want you to turn around and make your way to Yellowstone, that's where Imdugud is, it's where Cernunnos is… and it's where Lilith is. I can feel it."

"No." Sam shook his head, "It's too dangerous, by the time we get there and find her that thing is going to be bound to you and we're not going to be able to get it out! Now listen to me, just meet me at the vortex, we'll blast that bastard out of you and head up to Yellowstone together okay?"

Dean shook his head, "Sam would you just trust me? Please?"

"Dude, I can't. I don't know who's in control…" he drew a deep breath and shook his head as he maneuvered the car back onto the expressway but now on the Northbound side where he pulled over to the shoulder and waited with the hazards flashing. _I was in that house Dean, I saw what you did. I saw everything you did and for the life of me I don't know if it was YOU that did it or the wraith… I don't think I want to know… 'cause I think I already do._

"Right now _I _am in control Sam… I don't know when it's going to 'wake up' but it wants to go after Lilith, and I think… I _think_ it can wake up Enki's power. I think between the two of us, and Imdugud and Cernunnos all in one place… I think we can kill her Sam."

"YOU can wake up his power! It's YOUR power! You don't need a wraith to do it!" Sam yelled watching a small bundle of cars approaching the highway from behind him, wondering if Dean was in that group. _If we go together then we go together, I'm not leaving you alone._ "It almost killed Laura!"

"I know." He answered softly.

"Who's to say that next time it won't?"

"It won't, I swear."

"You don't know that! It's only gonna get stronger!"

"We can _use_ this Sam, we can use this to kill that bitch and stop her setting Lucifer free all in one fell swoop." His voice was low and felt tired, as if he didn't have the energy to argue anymore.

"These things are territorial! Sure it'll be happy to help take out Lilith, then it'll turn on Imdugud, and Cernunnos and probably even me Dean… any one of us it sees as a possible threat to its territory it'll kill! Do you think you're going to be in any condition to fight something on the INSIDE after it uses everything you've got to kill Lilith?" he asked trying to talk some reason into his brother. He scanned the cars quickly as they raced by, none of them the classic black and chrome beauty he was looking for.

"_You must awaken and save him." _Laura's well actually Inanna's voice came again inside his head making his belly twitch. _I haven't tried to use my powers in so long, I don't even know if they're there anymore._ But that was a lie. He knew they were there, more readily present in this life for what Azazel had done to him as an infant. _Could I pull it out of him? Without hurting him?_

"It won't come to that Sam. You gotta trust me okay? Just start making your way to Yellowstone. Leave Laura at the trailer the sidhe'll take care of her, send the kid home and come with me, we have a chance to end this before it actually happens. We can stop her Sammy but we gotta work together." He pleaded then caved to exhaustion.

The Impala swerved onto the shoulder, bit the gravel and fishtailed for a long moment that would have scared the elder hunter if he'd been aware of it.

"Do you have a plan?" Sam's voice came over the line.

"Yeah, I do." The mouth smirked.

"Well what is it?"

"Not now, it's waking up."

In the rear view mirror in the upcoming wave of cars Sam could see the distinctive grill of the Impala shimmering through the curtain of heat even from a quarter of a mile away.

"Drop back from the group Dean I'll stay behind you, we'll head there together okay?"

"That you up ahead?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's me." Sam watched the Impala drop back barely feeling the rocking of the car as the others tore past him.

He watched that black and chrome beauty slide into the left hand lane and slapped off the hazards before rolling the gold sedan up onto the blacktop. Even with the windows closed and the air conditioning working hard to force cool air out at him that distinctive glass pack chop rumbled louder, something almost malevolent in its intent. He turned his head just in time to see the right front corner of the frame shooting at him like a missile.

"Dean!" was all he had time to shout as the newer and much lighter car was pitched off the road, stuttering over the embankment while he struggled for enough control to keep it upright. The steering wheel jumped and quaked in his hands as the airbag exploded into his face muting the plastic crackle of safety glass shattering inside its protective coating. He did his level best to stay oriented as the car flipped first skidding on its side before reaching the base of the drop off and finally pitched onto its back slamming crushingly against his head. Pain shot out from his neck in staccatoed bursts that ran down his arms and shot somewhere into the center of his back as it bowed under the impact. Stars burst to life in his eyes and for a moment that lasted far too long he felt his heart stop in his chest along with his breathing.

Salvation lay inches away from his right hand. Blood ran playing hide and seek along his hair as it pressed against the roof of the car. He looked down grateful that the seatbelt was still holding and wiggled his fingers at the cell phone. They crawled almost of their own volition to the device, severed the current connection and shakily dialed 911 while fuzz encroached at the periphery of his vision. _I hope I dialed right…_ his thoughts were slurred as consciousness toyed with him. His fingers fumbled for the seatbelt release but he couldn't seem to find it and when he tried to look down another volley of spear-like pain shot through him wrenching halfway down his back. This agony was more severe than anything he could ever remember. Even when Jake stabbed him he'd felt a single instant of white heat before blissful numbness took over, but this was like a razorblade working millimeter by millimeter into his spine. He tried to breathe through it and tried not to whimper or cry out, or do anything that would embarrass the Winchester name until finally he gave in to the last resort he had and simply slipped into unconsciousness, the rumbling chop of the Impala long gone from his ears.

OOooOO

A cry came from the bathroom just before a couple hard rumbling thumps.

"Laura?" Spencer pulled himself away from the computer screen and dashed to the door, "Laura?"

A moaned response started him breathing again as he pushed it open slowly. To his relief, she was sitting on the floor, her back up against the wall with her knees pulled to her chest.

"What's the matter?" he asked crouching at her side, one hand on her knee the other behind her head as it lay pressed into her palms.

"Something's wrong," She gasped, "call Sam, see if you can get in touch with him… I can barely feel him either… I can't lose them!" she ground between clenched teeth as Milkthistle came through the veil carrying that now familiar stone cup. This time though the sidhe female had streams of tears falling down her face and her hands trembled as she held out the brew.

"What are you doing?" Spencer asked, unnerved by the tears. He also noticed just on the other side of the veil several sidhe warriors, including Mustardseed standing, their fear written on their faces. "Laura? What's in the cup?" he asked even as she downed its contents in a couple quick swallows.

"Help me up." She grabbed at the young mans' surprisingly strong arm and rose to her feet, "What I just drank is going to put my body into a kind of coma." She explained as he walked her out into the room and helped her get situated on the bed again.

"What? Why?"

"Because in my current condition I can't do them any good, I need to be able to interact with them and with the world. I need to be able to help them," she yawned deeply and curled onto her side, "I need to be able to…do..." but she trailed off leaving the young FBI agent with a crawling sensation in his guts and for the first time since he'd run into the two men a feeling that he might really be deeply out of his element, and a desire to maybe do what Sam had admonished and simply walk away once their friend Bobby arrived.

In the meantime he reached for the cell and called Sam.

OOooOO

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thanks sifi.


	4. Chapter 4

Changes – chpt 4.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

"You don't understand, I have to... t'... find..." a yelp of pain broke his concentration as the EMT's rolled him up onto his side and slid the backboard under him.

"It's gonna be a little while..." the man holding him by the cervical collar tried to soothe.

"Mmm phone... s'in the car... Bobby... please..." he ground as another stabbing lance of pain shot up his back. In spite of it, he was glad to feel it. Glad he could feel anything. _I haven't felt anything this bad since Lilith was getting her rocks off... _a tear slipped from the corner of his eye, "Dean..."

"Easy there tiger," the EMT rolled him back as one of the others secured the Velcro straps over him, "We're gonna get you some help."

"I got the phone," a female voice called from what sounded like miles away. Pale blue dove's eyes hovered over him seconds later, "Who did you want us to call?" she asked.

"Mmm," he groaned, "Bobby... call Bobby..."

In the background he heard voices and words, like 'cervical trauma' and 'possible spinal compression' and 'possible vertebral fracture', and even 'paralysis'.

_My brother needs help... Dean please wake up and go back to the vortex... let Bobby help you. God it hurts..._ and slowly the voices started to fade out as off to the side somewhere his cell phone chirped to life.

"Hello?" the female answered uncertainly.

"Uhm hello? " Spencer returned, "I'm trying to reach Neil Crosby."

"Tall man? Dark hair?" She asked, "Driving a gold four door sedan with Nebraska plates?"

"That would be him." The young agent felt his belly flip, "My name is Spencer Reid what can you tell me?"

"I can tell you that my name is Robin Stevenson, I'm a Chandler City EMT and we're taking him to Chandler City Hospital."

"What happened?" Spencer breathed glancing from his unconscious charge to the worried faces of several sidhe.

"Sir..."

"Please..." he tried not wanting to have to use his Bureau credentials, or engage Garcia anymore than he had already. If he did he knew things could get far messier than he was willing to risk.

"It looks like he was forced off the road. The car rolled... he may have spinal damage we're not sure. He was asking about calling someone named Bobby?"

"He's on his way here now, I'll call him," Spencer offered, "Go to the impact point of the car and tell me do you see any paint transfer?"

"Sir are you a police officer?"

"Look specifically along the borders of the impact zone, what color was the vehicle?" he asked.

"Wow," she breathed into the phone, "uh... black paint... sir do you know who did this? There are police on the way."

Spencer rolled his head on his neck and frowned in thought, "You said Chandler City Hospital?"

"Yes sir."

"We'll be there in a couple hours. Thank you." He promptly hung up and scrolled through the phone book until he reached the only contact named Bobby, then dialed.

OOooOO

"SAMMY!" Dean howled as the car shimmied over the gravelly shoulder of the highway while he fought against the intruding entity for control. He'd been okay with letting that thing use him, with letting it batter itself against whatever wall it might need to in order to think it was in control until he saw Laura's car shudder off the highway. He didn't feel the Impala hit the much lighter car, it was too much like watching a film of a hit instead with the same jumpy camera work but he did feel his belly fall hard into the pit of him while his throat closed. In the rear view mirror, very much in slow motion he watched the gold sedan slide sideways down the embankment before toppling over onto its back.

Panic swelled his heart as the Impala swerved back and forth like some badly played comedic argument that could only end in disaster, he glanced into the rear view mirror again, _c'mon Sam… get up, get out of there, pull yourself out… show me you're okay, please be okay, please be okay, please be okay… oh God he's not coming out… Sam? Sammy? Please?_

And for a moment he almost had control over the car again, _"I don't think so…" _his guest seemed to sneer as something started to feel squeezed inside him, something pressing deep, shoving him back and down he began to realize he might have to fight. _Damnit Sam… why'd you gotta be so smart?_

OOooOO

_Mmm choking… choking… can't breathe…stop… lemme go… STOP! _

"Easy Sam, easy… it's okay… wake up boy…" Bobby quickly wiped the mist from his eyes and gave a quick heavenward glance to the evening sky out the window. He laid his hand gently on the youngest Winchester's arm as the boy's eyes opened and he gasped a throatful of air, "If I never see either of you in a hospital bed again I could be the happiest man on earth," he choked as Sam's eyes locked onto his.

"Buh…by?"

"Yeah kid it's me…" he quickly held up the cup of water and placed the straw between the young man's parched lips, "you gotta take it easy Sam we're waiting on official word but from what they tell me you've got some spinal swelling. They're trying to rule out fractures at C2 and T7, and you have a slight concussion most likely from the roll over," he shook his head and wiped away another damnable layer of mist, "I swear if you weren't in as good a shape as you are… they said you might've…" he shook his head again then glancing at the hard plastic neck brace on the boy, forced himself to put his love aside, once more given to understand how John could sometimes have been the dictatorial bastard he'd occasionally been with his kids, "What happened?"

Sam tried to give a little shake of his head but winced and gasped, obviously pained by even that tiny motion, "Wraith… ran me off the road, s'goin t'…" he cleared his throat and winced, "Yellowstone… s'where Imd'gud lost her… Cer'nos s'searching there f'her." He slurred through the meds and the nauseating waves of pain that kept ricocheting between the base of his skull, just below his ears to the center of his back just behind his heart. _If I puke… it'll probably kill me…_ "ffff…" he took a breath and started again making sure to speak carefully, "Can't trust it, it'll use them to kill her then turn on them…" he met the senior hunter's eyes, "You have to save them."

Slowly Bobby nodded, "I talked with that Spencer kid… he doesn't wanna leave, thinks he could be of help." He shook his head, "Seems like a smart kid."

"Yeah… he should go… but h'could help."

"For future reference you should probably password protect the laptop…"

Sam's brows furrowed.

"He gave me a list of towns that have experienced strange atmospheric phenomena and an increase in livestock deaths not too far from Yellowstone." He smirked, "Said he got the information from a friend."

Remembering Dr. Reid's call to his friend Garcia this morning it wouldn't have surprised Sam if he'd learned what to look for on his laptop, then had them get the information and ping it to him. "Prob'ly." Sam smiled weakly and fought hard against the water building up in his eyes.

"What is it you're not telling me Sam?" Bobby asked leaning forward, his brows creased and mouth turned down into a frown of epic proportions. His emo-dar working overtime as John's youngest did the only thing he could to escape that gaze, and shut his eyes.

It didn't work, the torn, mutilated and eviscerated corpse shredded open on a dining table tied with his brother's distinctive twist on a slip-knot flashed through his mind, _Which one of 'em did it? Do I tell him? I have to warn him, if I don't he could wind up dead. But Dean, I can't… was it him or…_ Sam couldn't remember the last time he'd been so frustrated, _I need to heal, I need to get to him, need to see if I can…_ gray motion up by the ceiling caught his attention, _Igigi… anywhere there's pain and anguish_ a lightbulb seemed to flicker to life inside his mind as he looked steadily at the creature_ … I need to heal. _He glanced at the comforting face before him, as glad as he'd been to see it, now wanting him to be on the road already so Sam could do what he had to. "Be careful Bobby, the wraith it's in control … Dean may not be able to help you."

"Spencer said Laura's trying to reach him from the other side, if she can, she might be able to strengthen Dean or weaken the wraith long enough to get it out of him." He shook his head, his expression grave, "Sam getting that thing out of him… by the time I catch up… or find him at all… it could kill Dean."

Sam frowned and swallowed hard, "…e'd rather be dead than some puppet… he'll help if he can."

OOooOO

Once he was certain Bobby was gone, and the next time he thought he might have the strength Sam glanced upward and out into the hall, watching for the igigi's return.

"_I know you're out there you little shit… get over here!"_ He commanded in the ancient tongue knowing they were drawn to the vibration of it. It was as familiar to them as existing, it was the first sound they'd ever known and if he could focus long enough, it just might be the last sound this one would hear.

_Stretch out with my senses, be creative… envision what I need…_ he told himself and bent his elbow, pointing lethargically at the hovering warty gray face. He knew it couldn't feed off of his pain and anguish thanks to the protection he'd been given, but it could watch him suffer and it was obviously enjoying the sight of it. _Yeah well you got another thing coming don'tcha?_ He thought turning his hand until it looked like he was holding a tether, _hold…_ he tried to maintain his focus, envisioning a net closed around the creature as it thrashed and flailed in his psychic grip, trying to batter itself free until they were both heaving and panting. Every thundering heartbeat shot white hot needles of pain up his spine to the base of his skull. It seemed to grow in intensity the longer he fought the creature and he wondered for a split second which of them would win.

Finally its struggles slowed as did the searing heat in his back while his eyes watered and sweat ran down his face. He slowed his breathing, holding the tether and looking at his feet tried to shift. As he did something in his back slipped, feeling like two quarters rubbed against each other and the mid-back pain vanished. _Huh nuh…_ his heart galloped again as he focused on his toes willing them to move. _Please please please…_ he begged inside using his free left arm to try and shift again.

The pain returned and he bit back a yelp as his toes deliberately flexed. _Thank you God! Thank You Thank You… _he sighed then returned his focus to the creature in his psychic net. He wrapped his senses around it trying to feel everything he could about it. When it realized it had his full attention again it panicked and he felt it. It hated him, he accepted it. It feared him and finally he drained it.

More nourishing than the I.V. in his arm, the energy of the creature seemed to move in beads along the psychic line he'd established. If he'd been able to maintain focus while keeping his eyes open he would have seen the smoky gray particles, so much like grains of black sand dropping insubstantially to the floor. The pointy, cartoonish tail falling away like so much dust leading up to the rest of its incorporeal 'body' until all that was left was the final silently screaming visage of its face while the vessel of a soul far more ancient than it turned the tables and fed.

A wave of energy rushed through Sam's body, sliding along his arm, crossing his chest and filling him from there. Fanning out in every direction until the fatigue and weariness he'd had such trouble fighting only moments ago was significantly reduced. _Oooh that's good… now… let's see what it could take to control one of these bastards. "Anyone else hanging around here? Anyone else wanna come and see me suffer?" _he taunted in the ancient language as a dark and tentatively triumphant smile slowly spread across his lips.

OOooOO

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Cernunnos asked from across his preferred workplace in the veiled realm.

"He's going to need help, he's going to need the extra kick," Laura continued setting out the necessary equipment for the ritual to help bind the wraith's power. She smiled brightly, "Sam is healing himself using igigi, so he'll be up and ready to go by morning."

The God of fertility and rebirth nodded, "I'll have the sidhe ready to show him through the veil when he's rested enough."

"Are you sure it's her?" she asked again.

"Well unless Sam's been tossing his seed around all willy nilly…"

"Alright alright! I get it…" She smiled shaking her head, "How did you manage to keep Imdugud to keep from pouncing on her?"

Cernunnos shook his wild and wooly mane, "I didn't… he's still trying to batter through her defenses." Then he shrugged, "I told him to rest through the night and watch to make sure she doesn't try to evade us again while we wait for Enki, well the wraith anyway."

Laura nodded, "As soon as it gets him through her wards I'll begin the binding." She laid her hand on her patron's shoulder, "You'll have to fill Bobby in on what's gonna happen, he's going to have to know to stay away from Dean while the binding is happening."

"I'll tell him…" the good natured deity smiled then cocked his head to the side, "What of your new friend? Mustardseed and Milkthistle would like to bring your body here to make sure it's cared for, but the young man is… quite interesting. I sense he would not be satisfied if we sent him away before the task was done."

She nodded and sighed, "Yeah, he's definitely one of those… I should go talk with him." She rose from the stone seat and crossed the small lush clearing.

OOooOO

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thanks.

Sifi.

A/N – Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting this chapter up. Real Life came knocking and I could not deny it. If however you're still reading and enjoying, I do deeply appreciate it, and whether you review or not, I am grateful for each and every one of you.

I hope to see you again soon. Thanks very much.

Sifi.


	5. Chapter 5

Changes – chpt 5.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

_The hackles of her host's body rose as a warm wind blew through the night around her. Everywhere there was only darkness. The moon was new, the sky shadowed in meandering billows of varying gray. Trees waved mockingly in the darkness and even the nocturnal creatures that once scattered in terror at her coming barely even paused in their evening hunts. Everything about this was unsettling. The body whose soul she'd held captive until she fed to fullness off it now seemed to squeeze like the walls of a prison. The child tethered to the wall of the womb, though little more than an unrecognizable mass of some vertebrate 'thing' swung like molten lead inside. And the incessant rush of fluids, and pounding of this monstrous muscular pump in the center of the chest was maddening! She wanted nothing more than for it to all stop! For everything to return to the comfort of the ocean of screams and cries she'd long ago grown to call home. These few inescapable and unceasing sounds made even silence preferable. _

"_Lilith..." the night breeze seemed to whisper. _

_She wheeled, straining the finite ability of her human eyes to see what may or may not be there. _

"_Lilith..." again it came from behind, forcing her to wheel and strain while that damnable pump thundered even harder in her chest. _

"_Lilith..." now on her right side. _

_The uneven ground seemed to roll beneath her feet. _

"_Lilith..." it came again until uncertainty and fear traded places with anger. _

'_Who DARES to mock ME!?' the succubus inside the body wondered, 'Angels? Or Gods?' But there was no response. _

_All around her the world fell silent, even until she could neither feel nor hear the beating of the human heart in her breast. The body took a breath and relief left her weak in the darkness. _

_Shuddering out a sigh she turned and gasped, her nose millimeters from another. _

_An alabaster face with elfin features and jade green eyes stared coldly into hers. 'Inanna!' "No!" she breathed and in a blink the face was gone. She wasn't even sure if the woman had been there, or just an image. 'This is...' "...not good." Something deep inside whispered. _

_Her breath panted harshly in the otherwise ethereal stillness and again, though more slowly this time, she turned toward the direction she felt her wards holding. 'How did I get out here anyway?' she wondered as she turned, her human eyes catching on a bright pair of winking lights in the trees on her left. From this distance, and in this pervasive darkness, there was no way to tell what color that light might be. A shiver worked its way up her spine, her flesh broke out in bumps while the hairs on the body stood on end. _

_Sweat pooled in uncomfortable places and a twiggish 'snap' wheeled her around only to face either the same, or even possibly another pair of lights. 'Run! Now!' she told herself. Her feet moved over the spongy rolling ground, the scent and feel of her wards faint as from behind great wing-beats shoved and drove her with walls of hot wind while somewhere inside she could swear she could hear the growing buzz of an approaching swarm, 'locust... no!' but as she ran into the darkness the quality of the weight behind her told the truth. 'They're coming for me...' _

She gasped awake, sweat dripping with insectile speed down her back and sides. Her heart raced and breath came short as a chill shook her body. On her left she looked down at the human male beside her who now stirred and frowned.

"Mmm s'amatter?" he sighed wondering if it was just another of those mysterious 'pregnancy' moments.

"They're coming... they're coming and they're going to kill me and our baby." She let the human voice shudder. _Humans..._ she scoffed knowing that her body's mate, like all males with wanted offspring on the way, would fight to the death if need be.

He sat up and coaxed her into his arms, "It was just a dream," he soothed, "Just a bad dream."

She shook her head and called up some tears surprised that it wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be, "No, Ron. You believe me don't you? You believe me... our baby is special, he has a destiny and there are people, evil people out there that want to hurt him. He's going to bring peace to the world and I can see them, they'll do anything to stop him..." she shook her head playing the part with consummate skill, playing on this human male's need to protect, playing on his fears, subtly twisting prophecy and doling it out in small dribs and drabs. By the time they really did come, this human would crucify himself to save a child that wasn't even his, if she asked it of him. _Maybe I will... it could be fun to watch._

"Shhhh, shhhh Lily it's okay, of course he's special... he's ours," he smiled gently and rubbed his open palm warmly against her still slim belly.

"Say it Ron! Say he has a destiny!" she urged with just the right hint of near hysteria mixed among the desperation that was frighteningly, all too real.

"He has a destiny," Ron whispered gently against her temple, his own heart pounding, fearful of what was going on with his wife. Ever since her return from that crazy 'Chakra Cleansing' retreat in Pennsylvania she'd been different. She claimed her 'third eye' had been opened and that she was receiving visions. The visions had turned to nightmares just a couple weeks ago after she told him they were pregnant, and just a few days ago she'd started with this notion that their child was going to mean something to the world, not just them. _And now this... Lily baby what's going on with you huh? Is this real? Or are you just going through some kind of pregnancy related psychosis? Please let it be some kind of psychosis thing... God, if you're really there... if you really exist... please... just make my baby crazy okay? Cause anything else... just ain't right._ He prayed and eased her back down while in his arms.

"I gotcha baby, I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to either of you okay?" he smiled.

"You promise?" she asked turning onto her side and pressing her rump against him until she could feel him stir.

"On my life Lil. Now you go back to sleep and don't worry your head about another thing." His lips pressed against the back of her head while his hands roamed the hills and valleys of her body.

She took his hand sliding it up under her nightshirt and over her rear, leaving him caressing her while she slid her hand to his hardening manhood squeezing until he gasped and groaned, his arousal soaring while he explored her private places. She used everything in her nature and the arsenal of her experience to drive him into an undeniable frenzy of need. She cried denials that her wiles would not let him hear, she struggled until he made her raw and bruised though he had no memory of it. And she made him coarse driving his gentleness away, supplanting it with cruelty so that when he was done and his seed expelled she lay on her side, forcing tears and whimpers from her host and leaving the male adrift on a sea of guilt and self loathing. His need to protect her and the child grew in time with his guilt. His devotion would soon be fully realized.

OOooOO

"Did you do it?" Spencer asked with his arm around her, keeping her from falling off the stone on which she wobbled.

She nodded, breathing hard for another moment, "Yeah." She turned meeting his bright eyes and easy smile then shook her head.

"What?" he asked drawing back to the stone the sidhe had brought for him.

"You, here... accepting all this... just taking it in stride... it's like..." she shook her head, "I never would have expected any normal person to be able to deal with all this."

The wiry young man shrugged sheepishly, "What was I supposed to do? Walk away from what will without a doubt turn out to be the most extraordinary experience of my life? The proofs, the affirmation of so many suppositions..." he shook his head, "there's no way I could turn my back on the opportunity to see, or... or take part in something this... monumental."

"You'll never be able to share it with your friends."

He gave her a cockeyed smile, "Not my friends from the BAU anyway. I'd like to think when all this is said and done that maybe I've made a few different ones."

"I think you're right," she nodded smiling easily as she clasped him companionably behind the neck. They turned their attention once more to the polished stump that, at this moment, provided a window into Lilith's little hidey hole.

"So, now what?" he asked glancing over at the little bed of soft ferns and grasses that her recuperating body lay on just a dozen or so yards away.

"Enki..." she nodded though her expression tightened betraying the depth of her concern while her hand swept away the image of Lilith's bedroom, in its stead, wiping into view the impala, parked at the far end of a highway rest stop with Dean in the back seat, for the moment sleeping peacefully.

"When will the potion be ready?" he asked.

"By sunrise."

"But you have to wait 'til he breeches the wards before you can use it to bind the wraith inside him... what if it breaks free while you're all fighting Lilith or that Ron guy?"

"That's why you're going to be here watching. If something goes wrong you're our last hope." She smiled running her finger over the image of the man she loved.

"Mmm," he half smirked, "Great, I'm Obi-wan."

She huffed and spocked her eyebrow at him, _close, affiliated with Nabu actually._

"Do you know that twice in my career I've had to shoot someone, and both those times I was aiming for non-fatal parts, and each of those times I hit fatal spots." It was his way of giving her fair warning.

Laura grinned, "Something told me you weren't very handy with a gun... don't worry, it's just going to be a syringe... and it's only as a last resort, I don't want you in the fray at all..."

"But?" he asked.

"But... if you have to shoot him, just go for the delt... right here..." she patted the outside of his upper arm to drive the point home, "exact same place you get your flu shot."

"Okay." Spencer nodded smiling faintly. There was part of him that was in complete awe of the entire situation and yet another part of him that wondered if he wanted to return to the BAU. There was no doubt that what they did was incredibly significant, but this... this was something he'd never even dared to hope could be real, and here it was, and here he was in the thick of it all. _I wonder what mom would say if I told her about all this... would she think... no. I couldn't do that to her... the irony is that she'd really be the only one who could understand what I'm feeling about all this. _

He shook the thoughts away and watched as she turned her attention fully to Dean, and as she'd done with Lilith to plant the dream in her mind, dipped a finger into the side of his head. She closed her eyes and breathed deep. This time the smile that crossed her features was warm and gentle, something about it radiating love that was tangible in the very air. It's strength and warmth drew living things to it, filled them and made them wanton with its wholeness. Spencer shifted uncomfortably, taking a moment to rearrange his sudden 'surprise' while simultaneously observing everything he could about how the physics of this particular world seemed to work. So far, this realm beyond 'the veil' seemed to be built on creative energy, whether it was positive or negative was what determined the landscape, and so far as he could tell just yet, the sidhe and Laura's spirit were keeping a sharp eye on him. That fact gave him to understand that there were places here that might not be safe for him.

OOooOO

_There we go... that's better... _Sam sighed internally, _Thank god there was some truth to that vision the Asag gave me._ He was referring to an alternate state of consciousness that the creature under Lilith's dominion had shown him while its master used him. In this alternate consciousness Lilith had taken Dean to hell and Sam had buried his body in a salt plain. All the while Ruby had stuck by his side, teaching him how to use his abilities, teaching him how to exorcise demons from their hosts, and intimating that he might one day be able to usurp their strength to empower himself. She'd told him that if he worked at it enough that he'd be able to _kill_ demons, not just send them back to hell, and she'd been right, at least in his head. He was honestly amazed that the information was true and that aside from being able to kill them, _well at least igigi,_ he did also have it within himself to absorb the creature's strength, _the question is can I do it because I'm Marduk or is it because Azazel's blood is in my veins? Does it matter at all? _

He slowly tilted his head to the side, glad to be rid of the cervical collar, and even more relieved that there was no real pain anymore, just muscle soreness. The medical staff was at a loss to explain it as anything other than either a technical 'glitch' or as a miracle depending on whoever was asked.

He closed his eyes and breathed, trying to fight back the exhaustion that threatened to force him to rest. His mind flew back by hours, the sensation of absorbing the first igigi's energy coming back to him. The scream that brought half the floor's nursing staff charging to his room echoed in his memory and the realization of just how close he'd come to nearly complete paralysis broke him out into a sweat once more. He couldn't say what it was that made him so certain, but he WAS certain. It was as if all the pain he'd felt before feeding on the creature's energy was little more than his body nearly 'asleep', the pins and needles almost a joke.

Its energy, once usurped for his purposes, became warm, fanning out from his arm through the whole of him. And just after he called out to any others that might be nearby, his muscles began to cramp. Burning white hot in a way he hadn't felt since he was a teenager going through his first explosive growth spurts, his muscles pulled or pushed and a hideous crawling sensation in the depths of his very bones ground like crystal shards, biting, twisting and gnashing at the bony fragments before it pulled them together, pinching, poking and cutting as bone was broken down and then repaired. The damage that had been done in mere seconds beginning to reverse itself at a grossly accelerated rate, bombarding the young man with weeks worth of pain and suffering condensed into minutes that felt like hellish eternities.

Those screams of pain, with their undertone of intense fear brought a flush of embarrassment to his cheeks even now. When they'd rushed him back down to CT, afraid that he might have done something that had broken apart the compression fracture they'd found at C-2 or the one at T-7 he hadn't cared about much more than stopping the pain. There was no way to describe it, there was no instrument he'd ever encountered that could help a person try to understand what exactly he was feeling, and for several long agonizing moments he wondered if it might not be better to just let himself be paralyzed and not have to feel anything again.

Finally they'd tranquilized and mercilessly restrained him until his muscles quit trembling and he could breathe without wanting to add a scream to it, and just about an hour later the doctor had come up to his room, scratching his head and muttering about miracles.

"_I don't know how to say this... you had two compression fractures Mr. Crosby, one of the problems with fractures of this nature is that they're very delicate, the slightest movement can shear the fragments out of place which would in turn possibly damage the spinal cord." _

"_What're you saying? Am I gonna be paralyzed?" Sam panted, fighting the haze of meds to try and understand, he'd been sure he could move and that it was even causing less pain than before. Maybe by trying he'd done more damage than he thought, maybe holding the igigi hostage had been too taxing and had caused too much pressure on just one side of his spine. _

_He tried not to panic. _

"_No... I don't know how, maybe it was our scanner, maybe the imager... I just don't know Mr. Crosby, but you are one very very lucky man..." _

As his eyes slid closed and his breathing deepened he could have sworn he'd started to fly. He was somewhere along a black ribbon of road, approaching a scenic rest stop where his four wheeled home sat shrouded in shadow, almost invisible except for the golden glow throbbing mellowly in the back seat.

"_Dean?" Then he was on the ground approaching the vehicle. 'Nuh no… this is like when she… no not Dean… not again… I won't hurt him again! Nothing can make me hurt him again!' he tried to turn away but instead felt coolness soothing the heat of his fear. Something certain and gentle eased him through his guilt until he reached the car. _

'_Are you sure?' he wondered but had no clue who he was asking. And though he heard no answer, he leaned down and looked into the rear window where the older man lay curled on his side sleeping. "I'm coming Dean, we'll take care of this together okay? Just wait for me, don't try and take her on by yourself okay?" _

_That golden glow flickered and dimmed until his brother was just as disconnected from his own soul as every other human they encountered, until he was just another lost but breathing meatsuit with everything that made him special drown in tarry darkness. _

'_The wraith... it's hooking deeper into him...' he knew and raised his fist. "Dean!?" he pounded on the window, "Dean! Wake up!" _

OOooOO

Laura slumped, panting hard and grasped the edges of the stump where the image of Sam pounding on the Impala's window slid away and was replaced with a gleaming smooth surface as if the stump was varnished to show off its rings.

Behind them on the grass a cadre of sidhe scowled, some speaking with obvious anger toward her spirit as they fussed over her body.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked softly, frowning deeply between her apparent exhaustion and the sidhe's reaction to what she was doing.

She nodded then shook her head and spoke at the cache of small warriors until Mustardseed came to stand before her.

She dropped her hand onto the warrior's shoulder, "Take him to Imdugud…" she asked then spoke privately to him, _"Be sure he knows this one's patron is Nabu and he is to be treasured." _

"_Does he know?" _ Mustardseed asked with a wry smirk then shook his head, _"Of course he doesn't… why do I bother asking…" _

She smiled and turned back to Spencer, "You will wait with Imdugud until the others arrive and you will stay hidden until there is absolutely no other option is that clear?"

The young agent swallowed hard but nodded, "You're going to leave me with a demi-god who's in charge of pestilence and famine…"

"Yep." She nodded then dropped a hand onto his shoulder, "He does the bidding of his god… Lilith is the one you have to worry about…"

"And the wraith if Dave can't control it… what's his real name?" he asked, though it didn't matter. He'd seen the other names in her cell phone directory and there was only one other name that went as well with 'Sam' as he remembered from a couple years ago. The only problem was that he'd have to wait to confirm his suspicions.

"Enki." She answered without hesitation leaving Dr. Reid nodding as if he should have known. "Yeah, the wraith too. If I can't get there in time to help and to look after you you're going to have to look after yourself Spencer, this isn't a joke, it's not an hallucination, it's not a dream. You're not back in your hospital bed dreaming all this through a haze of meds and concussive trauma. Your friends are NOT sitting at your side fretting over your state of consciousness… if you're not careful you could easily wind up in the crossfire and that would leave you dead." She admonished harshly, driving the point home until his face went pale and his lips turned into a fine barely distinguishable line.

"I understand."

He helped her rise and escorted her to where her body lay before taking her offered hand in his.

"I hope to see you soon…" she clasped his hand, "be safe."

All he could do was nod while smiling tightly. The last two days, the events, the creatures, the realities came crashing around him, leaving him stunned and speechless and a little nauseated, as she centered herself and lay down within her body just long enough to pick it up and with MilkThistle and a few others at her side, started moving through the trees and out of sight.

A sharp poking at his knee caught his attention, "Where is she going?" he asked.

"For a swim." Cernunnos emerged from the trees saving Mustardseed from having to pantomime an answer.

The young agent looked him up and down, from his wild bushy head of hair, down the whole of his very hairy body, his legs looking as if they were covered in lambs wool, down to his cloven hoofed feet, _he's naked… that's all hair… he's Herne…_ and back up to the tell-tale stag's antlers sprouting from his head.

"You're Herne the Hunter aren't you?"

"That's one of my names," he smiled reaching up to drape his arm around the boy's shoulders, "So tell me… this Agent J.J. you're always thinking of… why don't you pursue her?" he asked turning the young man in the opposite direction.

"What? Because… she… and she just had a baby…" he stammered.

"Mmm," Cernunnos moaned delightedly, "a fertile woman… you need to plant some seeds my young friend and learn to celebrate life! I could help you if you'd like to take a detour, there's plenty of time before we enter into battle and the women in the area we're going to are RIPE for some celebrating of their own…" he offered.

"Uuuhhhmmm…" Spencer's voice faded as they approached the veil on the far side of the grotto where the shorter God stood for a moment, hooked his fingers into the fabric of the barrier between worlds and shifted it first to the right and then slid hundreds of miles of it behind them until they stood in a small park where a man sat gasping, exhausted and slumped on a bench.

OOooOO

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thanks.

Sifi.


	6. Chapter 6

Changes – chpt 6.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

"Finished?" Cernunnos asked dropping his hand onto the slumped shoulder of the apparently exhausted man.

"I haven't even started!" he growled then looked up at Spencer, "the kid?" he asked tiredly.

"Miss Finnegan wants me here." He explained sitting on the far end of the bench, "So… can I ask? How? I mean, back at the trailer what I saw…"

The demi-god's host shrugged, "Meh, I was just screwin' around, obviously it didn't scare you away."

"Were you trying to?" Spencer asked curiously.

Again the host shrugged, "S'not my business. If you'd run you'd just be proving yourself unworthy of the Kings' attention… just like the rest of your weak…pathetic race."

Spencer smiled and leaned back, his profiler's muscles flexing as he wondered if talking with a demi-god responsible for pestilence and famine was going to be any different than talking with a serial killer, "If you hold our species in such contempt why would you reduce yourself to serving two mere mortals?"

"You bring me an ignorant child to pass the time old hunter?" he smirked glancing at Cernunnos who lay on the grass, a nymph-ish looking female astride and riding him shamelessly while his hands eagerly explored her.

"Oh jeez." Spencer turned his head away, shocked by the display.

At the young man's reaction Imdugud laughed low but heartily, the tension around him broken by the honest reaction.

"He's fertility and rebirth, what did you expect child?" the Assyrian asked wryly.

"Well I didn't expect…that… out… in the open…" Spencer stammered quietly and in spite of the initial awkwardness of the situation found he might not have minded watching, _except that would be even more awkward NOW._

"The pro-creative energy will disturb the succubus, she'll know we are near and will cower like the filth she is."

Spencer paid close attention to the smile that turned up the corners of the hosts' mouth and nodded to himself, "I'm in a very unique position here…" he prefaced, "Historically there are accounts of the animosity between you and Li…"

Imdugud shook his head, "Speak not her name." he instructed.

"Harmonics?" Spencer asked.

"Perhaps not so ignorant after all," the ancient one smiled as off to the side the nymph squeaked, gripped Cernunnos tightly and slumped satisfied over him.

He rolled her off of him, stroked her hair and kissed her forehead then pulled up a blanket of grass over her, leaving her to sleep in her element while he sat up and rejoined the other two men. "Mmm," he grinned, "Nymphs."

"That would explain why promiscuous young women are still occasionally referred to as nymphs." Spencer mused aloud.

"Indeed," Cernunnos nodded smiling, "Wonderful stress reliever… you should try it," he nodded at the young man then shouldered Imdugud's host, "You could probably stand a good release too."

"Human's don't really satisfy me old man."

The young FBI agent felt his eyebrows raise in curiosity as he contemplated exactly what kind of creature could be a 'romantic' match for the twelve foot tall, onyx winged, rabid canine-faced being he'd seen in the trailer.

Not surprisingly, he couldn't really think of one.

OOooOO

Dean's legs reached out, his feet sliding between the front passenger door and the seat while he arched forward, stretching the kinks out from his fingertips to his toes. He'd awoken to the strange feeling that Sam needed him, or was calling to him and he wondered why the younger man wasn't in the car. _Where'd you go Sam?_ He frowned, scratching his head as he sat up and exited the car to take care of business, a shadow of a memory of yesterday, Laura's car going over an embankment and the knowledge that Sam had been the one inside.

"Sammy!" his fingers fumbled through his pockets, pulling John's old cell. He growled when voice mail kicked in, "Sam? It's me… tell me you're okay man… I don't know what happened… I'm sorry… just please, call me when you get this, let me know you're okay… I gotta keep going, I gotta get this done Sam… just," he swallowed hard and wiped away beads of sweat wishing it was that easy to sweep away the sick feeling in his stomach, _if anything happened to him so help me God…_ "be okay. Please." He sighed, "Call me okay? Please?" then hung up and winced, his head pounding for coffee.

"_It's too late, you're never going to get rid of me, I'm in too deep." _A cocky voice that sounded way too familiar told him.

"Bet me." He sneered sliding behind the wheel and turning the engine over, "I'm the one in charge here buddy and don't you even THINK otherwise!"

"_Mmmm," _he could almost feel it smiling inside his head and he idea was making him more than just a little nervous, _"I smell something that needs taking care of… and it's on the way."_

"No, no way. No more side trips." He shook his head.

"_It's a predator. It hunts females, it hurts them. Uses and degrades them then throws them away." _

"Has it killed anyone?" he asked fighting the spark of interest.

"_It will… maybe even today."_

Chewing his lower lip Dean put the car into gear and pulled out onto the road letting his senses hone in on the discordant vibration of intentional cruelty. As he did the intruder's voice subsided, withdrawing to lay in wait while he made its new home that much more hospitable to its presence.

OOooOO

"Are you sure Mr. Crosby?" Christy, his nurse asked sliding the arm of his shirt all the way up and over his shoulder. Sam smiled easily as she started buttoning it as if it was second nature.

_Bet she's got kids and a husband, _he thought then with a flick of the eyes noticed the ring on her finger, _damn I'm good._ "I'm sure Christy," he nodded almost imperceptibly, perhaps subconsciously afraid to make too sudden a move, "I can get it thanks."

The cute dark blonde frowned and chewed her lower lip, holding his AMA release papers tightly with one arm while her fingers toyed with a simple gold cross at her neck, "Look…" she glanced up through her lashes at him, "I saw that report, I saw the CT itself, it wasn't an imager problem… I've seen those they look like… well they look different. I've seen dozens of fractures, including compression fractures… Mr. Crosby… you, up and walking around, and… moving… it's a miracle. I'm sorry I don't want to sound all religious on you or anything but… no matter what you believe you gotta believe that sometimes miracles happen and you're one of 'em…" she sighed looking down at the floor then glanced around to make sure no one else would hear as she looked up into Sam's gentle smile, "By all rights you should be paralyzed, not that I'd wish it or anything but…"

"I understand what you're saying," he rested his hand on her upper arm, "I do believe in miracles," He nodded and smiled sliding into his jacket then shook his head, "but I'm just a guy that's got somewhere to be."

Silent and still chewing her lips while looking at the floor she nodded and didn't raise her eyes until he was out in the hall with his duffel bag in hand and heading toward the elevators. Watching him receding she whispered a prayer and kissed that simple cross at her neck wondering exactly what kind of miracle she'd just witnessed.

OOooOO

Outside the hospital, in a small courtyard Sam sat on one of the marble benches his eyes searching the grounds until he found what he was looking for. Something told him the sidhe wouldn't be far away, _maybe it's just cause I know Laura… I hope she's alright. She hasn't looked that wrecked since before we killed her. _A memory sprang up suddenly, causing him several moments of discomfort as a single instant on the Road To Dead replayed itself in his mind. He could feel her mouth under his and her body against his, warm and yielding in all the right places. She'd tasted like honey and cream and the slope of her low back fit the curve of his hand just right. Her soft rounded places fit his hard angles like puzzle pieces and his entire being felt whole for a moment.

The image was gone almost as quickly as it had come but the sensation remained leaving him panting quietly for several breaths while Mustardseed stood looking at him as if he knew exactly what had gone through the young hunter's being. _No, that can't happen again._ He closed his mind to the idea and got up grabbing his bag in front of him while the small warrior led him through the veil.

"Welcome back my son," Cernunnos greeted Sam with a squeeze to the back of his neck, "You're healed I take it?"

"I hope so... bring me up to speed?" he questioned heading toward the bench where the others waited. The question dangling on the tip of his tongue seemed to drop off as the deity drew his attention. He was moving around Sam, 'whiffing' him like a vampire taking a scent sample only the smile that was on the Celt's face was an odd mix of smugness and delight flavored with a tiny twist of something a little unnerving. "What?" Sam asked.

"You're aroused."

The unabashed assessment caught the young hunter off guard, bringing a violent flush to his cheeks as he drew back and met the horned one's eyes, "Hot nurse... but she's taken." He gave a quick nod as Spencer and Imdugud both turned to look at them. "I think I had a vision of Dean pulled over in a rest stop on his way to here last night, but..." he stopped unsure if he should continue.

"What?" Cernunnos asked.

"Do you see his aura?"

"It's less an actual 'seeing' rather than a sensing... what did you see my boy?"

"His light," he shook his head, "I could see it at first... y'know through the rear window but it faded and stopped and," his brows furrowed deeply and his mouth bowed downward, "I think the wraith is digging in deeper... I have to help him." He drew the ancient one away from the others, "I don't care about the bitch, let Imdugud have her, I need to save my brother and I think that wraith is going to put up a serious struggle."

"They usually do... historically speaking," Cernunnos nodded then looked up into those concern darkened blue-greens, "what do you have in mind?"

"We might need to sedate him, can the sidhe whip up something?"

The God of fertility and rebirth smiled, tapped his arm then pointed to Spencer, "The emissary is a step ahead of you, she gave the young man something for that very purpose if it's necessary."

_I should have figured... _he shook his head and felt the corners of his mouth turn up. "Any word from Bobby yet?"

"He called minutes after sunrise my king," Imdugud called from the bench, "he should be here within the hour."

Sam smiled as Cernunnos chuckled and they joined the men on the bench, "What's up with the succubus? She staying put?"

"She's called in her guard, they've been possessing innocents all night long, there are at least a dozen that are watching the house she and her vessel's mate are in. They're waiting for us." Imdugud summarized.

"Any movement from local law enforcement?" Sam asked recalling just a couple years ago when Lilith's supporters had taken over almost an entire town, including a few local police and even going so far as to possess Henricksen. _I'm sorry, I should have listened to Ruby, I should've made Dean listen to her... even though he WAS right. So damned close._

"I haven't heard anything my king."

"What if she does bring in the police?" Spencer asked.

"If she does, the odds are they'll be possessed." He looked between the demi-god and the deity, "We need to contain her supporters..." he stopped suddenly, dropped his bag and started rifling through it until he came up with a pad of paper and a pen. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before..."

"What?" Spencer asked as all the others looked on while he drew several copies of something, one to a page.

"Igigi..."

"Excuse me what?" he asked watching slow smiles spread over Imdugud's and Cernunnos' faces.

"Of course..."

"Brilliant my king."

"Why should we have all the fun right?" Sam smiled then turned to one of the sidhe warriors, _"We need chalk, or dye, some means of writing, and we'll need a devil's trap large enough to encompass the house the succubus is in, make it between realms so she won't know it's there but be prepared to move the veil on order." _

The diminutive warrior nodded curtly and dashed off into nothingness to do as directed.

"Imdugud," Sam started, reaching forward with a piece of paper half covered in the equivalent of the first written language, Cuneiform. The demi-god glanced at the paper and laughed, the rich sound accompanied a few seconds later by the Celtic deity's hearty chuckles.

Spencer shook his head, "What's it say?"

"Basically, 'all you can eat... come inside'." Imdugud settled down and wiped his hosts' eyes, "Who says Gods don't have a sense of humor."

"We'll need to draw them here." Cernunnos said.

"Leave that to me." Sam frowned handing a sheet to Spencer, and another to Celt.

"Eat? Eat who? You're going serve up a whole neighborhood worth of demon-possessed people to some... what are they? What'd you call 'em...Igigi?" The young FBI agent asked suddenly very disturbed.

"It's not like that." Sam shook his head.

"That's what he's making it sound like... what the hell kind of deity do you think you are anyway?" Spencer frowned angrily, everything he'd been exposed to over the last couple days finally starting to fill him up to overflowing.

"I'm NOT a GOD!" Sam yelled.

"_You have been."_ Cernunnos said softly.

Imdugud's eyes flicked over Spencer then met Sam's again, _"You cannot deny your soul."_

"Can we please..." Sam snarled between the two ancient beings then held the young agent's gaze, "I'm not." But to his consternation he thought he might see something resembling belief in the young man's eyes. _Not you too... you're supposed to be the one who relies on empirical evidence ..._ he sighed, "Look, you're an exceptional man. I just happen to have some areas where I'm... somewhat... differently skilled than most."

"Hah!" Imdugud scoffed then rose to his full height and bowed deeply before Sam while holding the paper up high, "I'm off my king... the swarm will hold their position until I call for them."

"The swarm?" Spencer asked then watched as Imdugud's host turned his fist up and opened it to reveal the first of what could be any number of locust he chose to unleash.

"Did that... did you... how?" he asked clearly amazed.

Imdugud smiled, closed his hand and looked into the young mans' eyes, "It's a gift," then shifted his gaze to Sam, "One I gratefully employ for my king."

The youngest Winchester felt the blow as if it'd been delivered with a sledgehammer and with his lips pressed tightly together in a partial scowl nodded curtly both acknowledging and dismissing the demi-god.

OOooOO

"Are you Evan Thompson?"

"Yeah? Who're you?" the mid-thirties man in the tattered and grease stained mechanics shirt scowled, frustrated by the interruption.

_Wonder if that's the standard mechanic look..._ he thought as his fist flew into the dark brown beard and he pressed forward while the man retreated under his barrage.

"Hey!" he barked and swung. Dean dodged the bad attempt.

"What's the matter? You can't fight it out with a guy so you gotta take it out on your girl?" he sneered angrily and popped the man again as his co-workers emerged into the bay, wondering what was going on but no one lifting a finger to intercede which spoke volumes to John's eldest.

"What the hell're you talkin' about!" Evan swung again, this time connecting with Dean's jaw.

"I know kids that pack a better punch you pathetic piece of shit..." and he swung again backing the man up to the tool bench against the far wall, his eyes narrowing on his co-workers who stood around them, moving through the garage with the fight, some of them even smiling.

"What's the matter with you guys? Get this guy off me!" he hollered as Dean pressed him back, his favorite bowie knife flat against his throat.

"I'm betting they figure you're finally getting what you deserve."

"Damn that bitch..." Evan muttered through clenched teeth.

"What happened Evan? She get mouthy with ya? Maybe didn't have dinner on the table when you wanted it? Maybe didn't wanna put out one night?"

"I don't know what you're talkin' about..." he denied smugly, "She fell down! She's always walkin' inta things or fallin' over stuff... always been a clumsy broad... who the hell are you? You a friend of that nosey bitch sister of hers? What'd she do tell that fat cow I tripped her or something? Hire you to put a squeeze on me?"

"Now why would anyone hire me for that unless they had a reason huh?" Dean snarled. The men behind him moved closer, unsure about what exactly was going on but most certainly interested in this stranger. At first they figured Evan got himself in trouble over some of his gambling, but this didn't sound like it. This sounded like something... worse, and yet still not anything that would really surprise any of them about him. Evan started working at the garage about six months ago, and already he'd alienated most of the staff. His work was good and solid but he was neither reliable or fit for contact with the customers given his bad temper.

"But if it's any consolation..." he didn't get to finish his statement. While he'd been pressing Evan back against the tool bench, pinning him in effect, Dean failed to take into account any tools below the bench's surface.

"Watch out!" came from one of the men too late as hot ripping pressure tore brutally into Dean's side, his surprise manifesting in a slip of that wickedly sharp bowie knife as its edge slid through several layers of skin halting Evan's further attempt at escape or overpowering him and leaving them at a stalemate.

"You can't stay on your feet for much longer," Evan snarled and chuckled.

"Long enough for you to tell me why she really wound up with those busted ribs and broken arm huh?" he gritted his teeth, there was no way he was going to let this son of a bitch see him in pain. _I can hold it down... it's not so bad._ An instant later, when Evan's hand twitched on the slender shaft of metal his knees came close to buckling and a groan couldn't help but escape him.

"Get your hand off the iron Evan 'er so help me that boy won't hafta finish his job... I'll do it m'self!" An older balding man of indeterminate age stepped forward pushing his sleeves up on his heavily tattooed forearms.

Dean couldn't figure which was worse the man's hand on the tire iron sticking out of his side or the feel of it dangling in his body. He drew a deep breath and leaned to the right, squeezing the iron in his muscles, hoping to keep it in place for just a few seconds longer. Inside his head he could hear the wraith laughing at both of the humans it had manipulated to this point. _Oh you are sooooo toast when I'm through here. _He thought.

"Just give me one reason why you would hurt someone who's only been loyal to you? What could she have done to deserve it?" he asked through the grimace against the pain.

Under his increasing weight Evan's brown eyes met his deepening greens and he shook his head, "What do you mean what'd she do to deserve it? They ALL deserve it! They're just like dogs, a man's gotta train his bitch."

"So you'd beat a dog like you beat your wife?" Dean snarled through the clouding in his head, he winced and tightened again to the side as the bar slid another centimeter from its hole.

Evan laughed, "You kidding? Dog's aren't dumb, one good smack you protect your investment, bitches, not so much."

"I WAS AT YOUR HOUSE! I SAW WHAT YOU DID!" Dean stormed, pressing the edge of the blade just a little deeper. _"Only the righteous man who started it can end it." _He recalled from somewhere deep, a warning that stayed his hand, _"...only the righteous man..." Me, I'm the one... I have a bigger job to do..._

Evan's eyes sprang wide and gasping breaths tore at him under the weight of the blade and his assailant, "M...muh... maybe I got a little carried away... but she turned into the blow! The bat woulda just hit her ribs again..."

A hot furious smile spread over Dean's mouth as he pushed off the man, "That's all I needed to hear." Faster than anyone would have thought possible, he drew back the knife, shifted his grip and struck the man with the pommel leaving him to fall unconscious to the floor.

A cry tore out of him as he fell to his knees, one hand on the tire iron in his side and the other sheathing his blade then digging into his coat pocket as the other men finally moved to their position, the one with the tattooed forearms dropped an arm around the hunter, helping to keep him upright then barked to his co-workers. "One of you go call 911!"

"And the police..." Dean grunted, movement to the left, just outside the repair bay at the edge of the garage caught his attention. He smiled faintly as the diminutive warrior danced nervously behind the veil, apparently very unhappy about the young man's injury.

From his pocket he pulled their old hand held tape recorder, stopped it, and dropped the tape into the bald man's hand. "Cops can press charges even if she doesn't... especially with this."

"Y'threatened him t'get it... it won't hold up."

"No, but it'll help." Dean grabbed the man's arm, "Speaking of help... help me up... I got somewhere to be."

"Yeah man, a hospital... you're not fit for going anywhere else."

His eyes on the sidhe warrior, Dean gave a nod which brought him out from behind the veil.

"What the hell?"

"Help me to my car." Dean instructed, glad the man was too shocked by the sight of the tiny warrior to do much else besides what he asked.

Every step tore at him, every breath stabbed deeper.

"What the hell is that?" the man asked.

"A friend..." he smiled, "You need to go back into the garage... hey..." he grabbed the guy's forearm as sweat started to pour out of him and his face turned waxy. "You can't..." he panted.

"I get it," he assured, "done enough time t'make the shortlist... I get it about layin low."

Dean glanced back to the garage.

"They're good guys, I'm sure they all saw something different."

"Thanks man." Dean nodded, slumped behind the wheel, "You sure you can do this?" he asked faintly, remembering how each team had been able to move to their required ambush locations when they moved against Nergal's earthly supporters, the members of the cult of Ninurta.

The warrior stood tall and gave a smart American G.I. salute then frowned as Dean closed his eyes with a nod and a frighteningly faint, "Good."

From the interior of the garage Lee Kazlewski watched in amazement as that eighteen inch man did something that made the car and its driver disappear from sight.

OOooOO

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thank You.

Sifi.


	7. Chapter 7

Changes - chpt 7.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

"What is it?" Sam asked as Cernunnos wheeled around, his eyes wide and his expression open, full of hope, and something about it remarkably similar to the expression Dean sometimes managed when he wasn't guarded.

"They found him." He grinned and took off toward the sound of rushing water with Sam close on his heels and very grateful that Spencer was already making his rounds through the neighborhood, 'posting' the signs that would tell the Igigi where demons were hiding.

The sight of the Impala parked right in the middle of the glade took them by surprise until they realized the driver's door was open and Dean lay on the ground.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, his much longer stride far outstripping the short satyr-like deity.

"Sammy," Dean sighed as his little brother came to rest on his knees beside him. He reached up gently tapping the younger man's face, "Thank God you're okay… I'm sorry."

"Aww man… Dean…" Sam groaned at the sight of the tire iron sticking out of his brother's side, "What the hell happened!?" he asked wincing for the pain the older man must be in.

"Got a little sidetracked… the wraith…" he shook his head and gasped as Sam dragged him out onto the grass so he could lay flat, "it knows how to find evil that's for sure."

"So do you, you friggin' idiot!" Sam snarled and breathed through his fear. He glanced at the deity who was relating instructions to a squad of sidhe. "Is it still inside you?"

"Yeah," Dean nodded and winced. Swallowing hard he grasped Sam by the shirtfront, "It played me Sam, I'm so sorry man. We need to kill this thing."

"Not yet Dean."

"What?" he barked and immediately regretted for the stab that shot through his body. He was honestly surprised that the wraith hadn't tried to resume control over him. When it was in charge it was as if he was asleep and not even really able to dream. He thought about the satisfaction it felt when he'd 'agreed' such as it was, to go after Evan and he hadn't realized it was simply stalling for time so it could dig in deeper and maybe even have close to total control over him before it went after the top predator in the area, the succubus.

A wraith was no match for even the lowest level of demon under any circumstances if it was on its own let alone Lilith herself, but she _was_ the biggest threat to its ambitions. It had sensed the power in the hunter, the ancient and powerful soul and known that with all these tools wrapped up in one host it had a chance to destroy the competition and unleash armies of thoughtforms all over the world. Armies that with this host's power to wield, it would master and lead on a destructive rampage that would over the span of a few decades, consume the human infestation.

_It hasn't…pushed since I remembered what Cas told me. _Dean had been nearly drowning in guilt since Castiel confirmed that it was he who'd broken the first seal and enabled Lilith and her minions to start breaking the rest that would set Lucifer free and bring about the apocalypse. _I started it, it's my job to stop it. Not even a wraith can go against the will of God right? _

"You're gonna need it to get past the wards around her hosts' house, once you get in, you can break her seal and we can follow, but until then," he shrugged, "the only one who could pass through would be Spencer and none of us want him in this if we can help it. I mean the kid's a Fed y'know?" Sam explained moving up to his head and taking it into his lap as Cernunnos and his squad of sidhe, each of them carrying a stone cup, approached them.

Dean nodded at his patron and their allies, "Hey." He greeted weakly, his eyes flicking down to his side where the god of Fertility and Rebirth knelt with his hand on the iron shaft.

"Are you ready?" he asked once Dean swallowed down the offered liquid.

A rush of warmth supplanted the cold that had come with the shock he was in, and his body began to feel fuzzy and just a little disconnected.

"I…uh… I think…sssss…" his eyes fell closed and his breathing evened out after a brief shudder shook him.

Once he was out, the deity pulled the iron from his side. Sam grimaced at the gooey sucking sound but watched with intense interest as the sidhe moved quickly against the heavy river of blood that spilled far too freely from the wound. One of the small warriors stepped forward and slathered the contents of his cup on the edges of the wound greatly slowing the blood flow, then another came forward and stuck his arm inside the hole, seconds later dragging out into the open a section of intestine while yet another came forth with a fine needle and some thread to quickly sew closed the injury.

For the most part Sam peered out from slitted eyes, and though his stomach roiled at the sight of what they were doing he was glad beyond measure when the blood flowing from his brother trickled down to a small stream with the repairing of that sickeningly deep puncture. Once they were sure there were no other holes or damage inside the young hunter, yet another sidhe came forward and dressed the wound with a mass of very familiar butterscotch colored clay before wrapping a binding around Dean's waist.

"Is that the same clay Laura remade his humerus from?" Sam asked.

Cernunnos nodded, "It is."

"Absolutely amazing." Sam sighed. He'd been searching out the Guardian while Laura, Ammit and Imdugud had been working to re-make and replace Dean's upper arm bone and had returned pretty much when it was all done. He shuddered at the memory of the Egyptian eater of the dead's rod-like tongue rammed up the flesh of his big brothers' arm, keeping the muscles in their proper places while Laura sculpted a new bone out of the clay of creation. "How long till he's healed?" he asked.

"His body IS human, we can mend and patch and heal but it still takes time."

"I mean will he be stable enough to breech the wards? I want the sidhe to take him back here and put him out once we're able to cross them."

"If he's not strong enough to hold his own and fight we'll get the emissary to start binding the wraith until we can evict it from him." The deity nodded.

Sam nodded, it was as good a plan as they were going to get. Unfortunately he also knew that sometimes their plans didn't go the way they intended.

At the sound of a vehicle approaching on the other side of the veil Sam's head snapped up and a smile of relief crossed his face.

"That's Bobby."

"Go," Cernunnos nodded, "We'll stay with him."

OOooOO

Though Sam never had the same kind of relationship with Bobby that Dean had, the older man was still a welcome presence, the relief the sight of him brought was unmistakable.

"Hey kid, any word on your brother?" he asked as they drew out of their companionable hug.

Sam nodded and quickly filled him in on what the basic plan was.

"Are we missing anything Bobby? I feel like something's…" he frowned and shook his head, "Like I'm not taking something into account y'know?" he asked once he was done explaining what they were prepared for so far.

Bobby shook his head, he'd been trying to find any loop holes in their plan even as Sam was laying it out to him, but so far hadn't been able to, and as was usually the case these days, _well, ever since the gathering, how could we have missed something as simple as a human on the premises, _he wondered if maybe he was losing his edge.

His eyes turned to the well risen sun, "Nothing I can think of so far, long as she doesn't try to high tail it out of here under cover of daylight."

Sam shook his head, "I don't think she would have summoned her troops if she was planning on leaving, but we've got sidhe all around the neighborhood…" a ruckus that sounded like crackling ice floes drew their attention to the edge of the veil where a bloodied and bruised sidhe warrior was in the midst of a tale to two of his compatriots.

"What happened?" Sam asked moving quickly to the trio and listening back and forth as they all took turns relating the battered warriors tale.

Bobby watched as emotions cascaded and shuffled across Sam's face, one moment somber, the next his eyes wide with questioning and possible disbelief, a frown followed by a quick look down and a sharp intake of breath. _This doesn't sound good…_ Bobby thought.

Sam laid his hand on the small warriors shoulder, "You did good. Go get yourself cleaned up and tended to, we're going to need you back in the fight tonight if you're up for it."

The diminutive man sighed wearily, but nodded and flexed his muscles, miming his fitness for return to duty as soon as darkness returned.

Sam returned to the bench, sitting beside Bobby, his hands covering his mouth until the warriors were out of earshot.

"What the hell happened to him?" the seasoned hunter asked.

"He was," Sam shook his head, "He was scouting a property for demons…"

Bobby looked questioningly at him, "Yeah?"

"Crossing a back yard… he saw someone by the patio, and he crept through the bushes..." Sam shook his head, "it held still like it was listening for movement. He moved closer bit by bit and when he was close enough... he attacked!" He breathed deep and covered his mouth again. "He grabbed it by the head and they toppled in a heap where it got the upper hand..."

Bobby's eyes were wide with curiosity, "What? Well… who was it?"

"Garden gnome," Sam clipped quickly, smiling behind his hand.

"Huh?" the elder hunter questioned.

Breathing hard, trying not to laugh Sam explained, "He uh… tackled it and it..." he sniffed hard, "fell on him."

Bobby's eyes shot wide and his lips clamped tight together, "Oh." He turned to make sure there were no sidhe nearby as a snort ripped out of him.

OOooOO

"How're you holding up kid?" Bobby asked as Dean slowly walked to them and sat on the bench.

"Good... I think," he breathed hard.

"The wraith?" he asked.

Dean shook his head, "It's quiet right now... been quiet since I remembered what Cas said," he shifted his position and turned expectantly to his surrogate father, "speaking of which...?"

Bobby breathed solemnly and reached into his jacket pocket pulling out a few sheets of paper. Sam's face crinkled curiously as he met his big brother's eyes but Dean just nodded. Information was coming.

"I called a couple of old friends..." he began.

"And by 'old' you mean?" Dean asked.

"Old enough," he nodded shifting through the sheets, "your friendly neighborhood angel wasn't pulling his punches Dean," his finger drew the elder Winchester's eyes to a passage written in what appeared to be Aramaic, the difference was that it was more ancient, by at least a thousand years than the very language that Jesus and his disciples spoke. Beside the otherwise indecipherable scripture, on the photocopy was a meticulously printed translation, "...the first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in hell. As he breaks, so shall it break."

"Oh God..." Dean breathed and wiped his face with a shaking hand before looking between the two men who meant the most to him, "I..." he gasped panting, "I didn't know... I didn't know!" he choked as Bobby flipped to another page where once again, the ancient script was accompanied by meticulously printed translation, "The righteous man who lifts the veil is the only one who can seal it once more."

"What the..." Dean shook his head then followed an arrow that pointed to, "Apocalypse = To Reveal" then another arrow that pointed to a printed question, "Reveal what? Heaven and Hell... drop the barriers between all?" which then led to another line that led to another interpretation that read, "The righteous man who starts it, is the only one who can stop it."

"No... No..." Dean shook his head his eyes wide with panic and fear, "No, not me... I'm not... I can't..." as he looked back and forth between his brother and Bobby.

"Dean..." Sam started while dropping a hand onto his shoulder.

"NO!" He barked, "It's NOT ME! I can't..." but he couldn't speak past the crimp in his throat as the enormity of it all left him weak and fearful.

"Dean..." Bobby tried but John's eldest slid off the bench and away from the two men, running his hand through his hair he paced, the pain in his body virtually nothing compared to the pain in his soul.

"No... I can't..." his gaze drifted somewhere else as he remembered, _"When we learned of Liliths' plan for you, we stormed the gates of hell hoping to get you out..." Castiel's voice came softly to him and he had the memory of being in a hospital bed, "before I jumpstarted the apocalypse..." he finished as the enormity of it all came crashing down through him. _"If I could've just... just one more day... just once more... all I needed to do was say NO one more time and NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING!" he hollered furiously. _I killed the world... it's all my fault, I killed the world... everything, everyone... everyone we've saved, every life we saved, every future we tried to give back.... oh God I destroyed it all! There's gonna be nothing, and no one and every single person, kids, housewives, KIDS... innocent or not every single person on earth is gonna go through everything that son of a bitch put me through...and I brought it on each and every one of them... oh God... please... don't let this be true... please help me make it not true!_

From the shadows Cernunnos came forth, "Dean." He called.

"WHAT!?" the hunter barked, instantly regretting it as his side pulled with the effort but the shape in the shadow behind the ancient deity was unmistakable, nothing beside that rumpled trenchcoat and a pair of wings could throw that particular silhouette.

"Dean?" Sam rose as did Bobby, "What is it?" but apparently neither of them was able to see anyone other than the woods god.

"Watch for Spencer and Imdugud, I'll be right back." He muttered and holding his side, shambled toward the trees.

As he approached, Cernunnos and Castiel met eyes, each being gave a nod and deity left them to talk. He was joined in the shadows with another who watched frowning as the man she loved fought against the depth of his newly revealed destiny.

"He will succeed." The horned one whispered while holding her snugly to him.

She nodded, "I know. He's the only one who can."

"That IS why it's him and not someone else." Cernunnos added.

She looked into his gentle face, "Until he understands that in his heart and head, what Alastair did to him will be nothing compared to what he'll do to himself."

"You should go to him." He suggested but she shook her head.

"Not yet. He needs his own time… I'll be there when he's ready." She sighed with a hand on his shoulder.

"Always have been." He motioned to Sam and Bobby standing at the bench, watching for signs of Dean's return, "Let's keep them occupied eh?"

Just as they reached the bench, both Imdugud and Spencer turned a corner and seemed to be walking quite companionably toward the park.

Sam startled when her hand came to rest on his upper arm, "The circle's ready when you are."

He looked her up and down, his brows furrowed in concern but his expression hopeful, "How are you?" he asked fighting the urge to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

She nodded and stroked his cheek, "A little stiff but healed… the pool does wonders."

"Circle?" Bobby asked, "To summon the igigi?"

"That's the one," Sam nodded, his mouth tight as he stepped back from her a little, "can we put Dean in the pool?"

"With the wraith inside him I doubt it'll work," Cernunnos explained, "but we can try."

"We're running out of time, we need to get that thing out of him." Bobby insisted, his lips tight with frustration.

"The houses are marked." Spencer smiled as he and Imdugud joined the group. "How are you feeling? You look better." He observed offering his hand to Laura.

"I'm better thanks, so they put you to work huh?" she asked.

He nodded smiling, "I never thought I'd wind up a tagger."

"Stick with us kid and we'll show you a world of possibilities." Imdugud slapped him easily on the shoulder.

"You must be Bobby then?" he asked turning his attention to the older man.

"Dr. Reid," he nodded shaking the boy's hand, "Great work on your Symbolism of America's Southwest, your research helped take down a chaos effigy a couple years ago. It was your research if I'm not mistaken that helped distinguish it from a fertility totem."

"Thank you. Ooh I know the one you mean… they were frighteningly similar, except for the shape of the…beak."

"Beak… yeah." Bobby nodded smiling.

Laura took Sam by the upper arm, "We have work to do before nightfall."

He nodded and leaned down, "What about Dean?"

"He needs time." She nodded back toward the glade and the stump, "C'mon."

With a faintly reluctant tilt of the head he followed.

OOooOO

A/N it's a little slow I know, and I'm sorry... but now that everyone's together we can get the party started. I hope to hear from you. Thank You.

Tbc.

Please R&R.

Thank you.

Sifi.


	8. Chapter 8

Changes – chpt 8.

By: sifi.

OOooOO

_How did we get here, how did we ever arrive at THIS place?_ He wondered, his eyes were fixed on a man he wasn't sure he knew anymore and yet had never felt more kindred with. In the center of a circle within the clearing that was more familiar and in a way more home than any motel they ever stayed at, Sam was on his knees shirtless, his chest, back and arms were covered in symbols Dean could not just read, but actually knew. His arms were open in supplication, his face turned skyward as ancient words whispered outward and the rose-copper color of his soul's energy crackled over and through him.

"_Ye guardians of the watchtowers I summon stir and command you to draw forth the tools I require and bid them do my will. In the name of Ea known to the creatures of earth as Enki, in the name of Marduk known to the creatures of earth as Etemenanki, and in the name of Inanna known to the creatures of the earth as Ishtar and with the power of rebirth I Marduk summon forth the fallen ones, bring me the traitors to life that they will heed my command." _

A gentle upturn of the corner of the older man's mouth brought warmth and the hope that maybe everything would turn out exactly as it was destined to. _Just like he said it would. It's so hard not knowing though._ He admitted before another thought came to him, _she's been waiting. Am I ready?_ He wondered and reached out with his senses taking comfort in the feel of her nearby. _Why is it quiet?_ A flicker of thought turned toward the wraith and he hoped it would do as they needed it to. As long as it got him past the wards and enabled him to open them to the others he could be content no matter what else might become of him. _Cas seemed so sure but how can he be? It's the end of the second day, it led me, it used me and kept me occupied and I let it. It might be sleeping... when it wakes up I hope she's ready to bind it. _He sighed softly, taking comfort from Sam's voice as the sky turned pink and the sun contemplated the horizon. _Please sweetheart, be ready, don't let me hurt anyone else._

Above them dark speckles began to appear, few at first, then more in streams, each of them falling into formation like flocks of birds. There were enough to darken the sky as in the clearing Sam continued his summoning, over and over he called them, drew them to him until the sky was nearly blackened by their numbers as dusk turned to night.

Dean watched amazed as they darted at his little brother and bounced away thwarted by the immunity he'd been given. In time he noticed that many of them who'd tried unsuccessfully to feed on Sam, seemed to sense that there were demons nearby and tried to shoot off to find them, again, only to bounce against an unseen barrier. In time the mass of igigi seemed to be unable to move beyond the boundary posed by the circle that surrounded the young man. When Sam's body wavered with exhaustion, and his voice crackled with dryness Dean frowned and realized his little brother had been working for hours, summoning, drawing, and containing these creatures. _What if it's too much for him? What if it drains him too much... I have to be able to fight tonight. I have to be able to help. _He turned on his heel, determined to find Cernunnos or Laura and have them find a way to make him whole again.

"Breathe." She smiled when he gasped after colliding with her.

He swallowed hard, his eyes darting away from hers and though he tried to move backward, her hands fell to his hips, keeping him gently tethered to the spot. _I'm not ready...I thought I was but… I can't face you yet..._ he thought almost desperately. _You can't learn what I've done. _He shook his head and tried to draw away, this time she let him take a step back.

Her eyes flicked to Sam, "He'll be fine. The sidhe are waiting with some juice for him after he sends the igigi out." She explained fighting her need to reach out and hold him, to feel him in her arms.

"Juice?" he asked.

"Elixir." She grinned and stepped forward, sensing a faint relaxation of his defenses, "How are you? Do you think you'll be able to fight tonight or do you think you'll want to come back and be bound until everythings' done?" _There's no way he's ready to broach the subject of the seals yet_ she knew, _maybe one day but definitely not this moment. _

He shook his head, "I don't know... how long will it take you to bind me if it wakes up?"

"As long as it takes to recite an incantation."

_Boy if this doesn't just scream awkward! _He frowned internally, "How are you? You look a helluva lot better than the last time I saw you... are you healed up?"

"Yep," she smiled reaching up and stroked his cheek before drawing him down to her. After a gentle moment of capture she smiled, releasing his lips from hers, "Don't think you're going to get away with it." She smirked.

"What?" he asked spocking an eyebrow and hoping she couldn't sense his roiling stomach.

"You're not going to get out of being territorialized. Once we're done here and you're well enough we have a date y'know..."

He grasped her by the shoulder, pulling her body against his and wrapped her in his arms while he rested his cheek against her temple. Hope sprang to life, _maybe even if she knew what I brought on the world... _maybe even if she knew what he'd brought on the world, she could still find a way to keep loving him.

His chest burned with aching as he turned her, slid his hand behind her head and searched her eyes, needing to believe that nothing he ever did could turn her away. _I couldn't stand it if she left me. I don't know if I could do this anymore. _He searched in those crystalline green eyes that were a mirror of his own for any hint of a future without her there, for any sign that her love for him could be smirched or smeared or left dirty somehow. _I need to know... _he pressed his mouth to hers, _is it in her kiss?_ She yielded with tender exaltation and returned his question with unconditional acceptance. Her body bent to his while her hands cradled him. She breathed him in and trusted his embrace and when his body hardened and pressed against her and his mouth sought more, she gave him everything he needed.

He pulled her tight, every bit of the man he was burning inside his skin. A hand slid up her back, twining a loose fist into her hair as he probed her mouth then angled her head and tasted her neck.

In his grip a gasping sigh shuddered as her lips curled just before he stopped and turned her head once more so they were diving into each others' eyes. "I love you..." then his throat wouldn't say more. Their lips joined again, mortared together by tears that could have come from either of them, but belonged to them both.

OOooOO

"You sure you're up to this?"

"You sure you wanna do this?" they asked together as Sam buttoned up his shirt and slid into his jacket, the heavier material finally concealing the faint glow of the markings on his body from any eyes that might otherwise be sensitive to them.

With a nod they moved across the clearing toward the edge of the veil where their assault squad, consisting of 5 sidhe warriors, Bobby, Imdugud, Spencer, and Laura awaited their arrival. Bobby, Spencer and the sidhe were charged with ensuring that no demons including Lilith, were able to escape the perimeter and Imdugud, with his swarm was charged with arial surveillance. The 'injured' parties had the task of taking the succubus out.

Standing face to face Dean, Laura and Sam nodded, "Weapons?" She asked touching the ruby tinged short sword at her waist. The red in the liquid diamond coated tungsten carbide blade was Dean's blood that had been mixed with the metal by the demon weapons' smith Gader'el, the same being who'd made Enki's first sword. And like that sword, each of the trio's weapons was bound by blood to be whatever was needed. For Dean, in this moment his sword had become a machete in accordance with his wishes. Sam smiled darkly as his hand fell to the crescent shaped blade he'd envisioned for this, each of the edges was serrated with deep backward angled spines that would mercilessly shred flesh with each withdrawing stroke.

Light from the streetlamp shined on that ruby colored blade as well, perhaps a preview of what it would look like when it was covered in Lilith's blood. Each of them had claim to vengeance and she had a great deal to pay for. The heinous abuse, violation and theft of his sovereignty was cause for Sam's claim. The murder of Dean and Laura's unborn child was Laura's claim, and the grievous wrongs done to those he loved; the rape and torture of his brother, the son of his soul; the attack that had almost killed Laura; and worst of all, the murder of his child were all Dean's claims.

The others moved somberly to where they stood, Imdugud grabbing Spencer by the jacket and dragging him along grinning, "Since you're going to join in the fray, you should be part of the 'go team' as well."

"Everybody ready?" Sam asked nodding at each affirmative.

Dean looked hard at Spencer, "Got your salt?"

Spencer nodded.

"Holy water?"

He nodded again.

"Pendants?"

The young agent slid the St. Quirinus medallion and another pendant, this one filled with a roiling bit of dark smoke that seemed to glow in the presence of the igigi, out of his shirt then tucked them back in after the elder man nodded.

"Shotgun loaded?"

Spencer cracked it, then snapped it closed, "I'm not particularly comfortable with this… these are people that just happen to be possessed."

"Believe me I'm not comfortable with the idea of you and a shotgun in the same place either, but the shells are loaded with rocksalt, unless you go for a headshot and get really lucky you're not gonna kill anyone." Dean admonished then sighed, "You got the exorcism memorized?"

"That was easy." Spencer smiled.

"Yeah alright mister photographic memory… listen, if you get in trouble and there's no one around, get yourself somewhere with limited access, a shed, an enclosed alcove, salt the windows and doors and recite that exorcism for as long as you can. The point is, sit tight until help comes is that understood?" Dean ordered.

Spencer nodded and in spite of the shaky smile that turned up the corners of his mouth, his eyes sparkled with anticipation. Everyone present wondered what would become of him when all this was over and he returned to his daily life, including him.

"Any questions?" Dean asked one last time as he moved to Cernunnos' side at the edge of the veil.

"Okay then," he nodded a moment later and turned taking the deity's hand in his left while the fingers of his right hooked into the 'fabric' between worlds.

"Easy now," the Celt directed softly as Dean tugged gently and began a slide that would take their position right into the center of the neighborhood in which Lilith was hiding. He pulled gently on the veil, watching his feet until they reached the first marker of her wards. Cernunnos squeezed his hand and nodded, "Have faith."

Dean looked over his shoulder at Laura, "Be ready."

She nodded.

"Sam." He double checked, glancing at the younger man standing beside what could have been a transparent tube full of very aggravated igigi.

"Ready."

He drew a breath while everyone else held theirs, sank his fingers deeper and tightened his grip as the toe of his shoe seemed to rest against the outer edge of the ward. Just as Cernunnos had told him, he gave a hard strong pull, almost as if he was swimming and as his shoe crossed the ward he ordered, "Now Sam!"

At the edge of their containment Sam slid his foot over the border of the trap, breaking the line and ordered the starving creatures, _"Go now and feast!"_

The air shuddered with the passage of thousands of hungry and angry igigi as they stormed to freedom, drawn by the illuminated ancient signs that invited them to feed on the hundreds of demons that had been tagged in the area.

As soon as the igigi flew, Imdugud unfolded from within his human host and took wing, unleashing his swarms as soon as he was free of the veil. Next the sidhe squad led Bobby and Spencer out into the night, depositing them gently just inside the perimeter to go ahead and fan out. As the grotto of the realm continued to slide into the neighborhood Dean and Sam saw Bobby crouch down and show Spencer how to break the ward so that if any of them somehow stepped beyond it they wouldn't be kept out of the fight.

Seconds later the realm drew to a halt smack in the middle of a cul de sac and out of apparent nothingness the trio emerged into darkness as streetlamps, porch lights and every source of illumination that had an electrical basis failed.

In spite of the sudden lack of light, layers of black and gray shadows swarming and moving told them two things; the igigi were feeding, and Lilith had anticipated an attack. On the ground lay at least a dozen hosts in the process of being freed of their demonic captors.

"Stay frosty." Dean urged quietly scoping left and right, doing his best to penetrate the pervasive darkness, seeking hidden dangers, snipers, demons laying in wait to ambush them.

As one they spotted Imdugud hovering over the succubus' home and as planned, Dean and Sam split up, one slinking into the shadows near the porch, the other moving stealthily into the back yard while Laura moved boldly up the front walkway and without a second's hesitation kicked in the front door splintering the lock out of the jamb.

She moved with a speed and proficiency that left Dean staring from the front porch as he watched her bend backwards, evading a shotgun blast seconds before kicking the weapon from the man's hands, righting herself and catching it before the unsuspecting guy knew what had happened. _Damn, got a little black mamba action going on there._ He couldn't help but smile as she turned the gun on Lilith's would-be defender quickly and knocked him out with the butt of it.

A flash of silver caught his eye through the window and he had to hold himself back from shouting a warning as she turned with the gun in hand and batted the blade to the side where it landed impotently on the tile flooring.

The two women stood face to face. Hatred blazed from the succubus and yet was unable to penetrate the calm certainty in her enemy's eyes. She raised her hand as her eyes went white and though a breeze blew through the foyer, when she stopped gasping for the exertion, the embodied goddess of war still stood appearing almost bored. Again she raised her hand, this time white light seemed to flow with incredible intensity for long burning seconds that blistered and set fire to the wall behind the emissary yet left the woman untouched.

"Then I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way!" Lilith promised with a hint of a shiver beneath the snarl. The blade sprang from the tile back into her hand and she charged toward Ina, the knife high and gleaming in the darkness.

OOooOO

Spencer ran forward sliding another shell into the shotgun and snapping it closed just as Bobby turned in his assailant's grip, head butted the man and slid away a split second before the blast tore past him knocking the demon and its host flat on its back.

"Good shootin' kid," he praised grabbing the young agent by the arm and dragging him down to his knees, "You, exorcise this son of a bitch then get back to the sidhe at the rear and make sure none of these bastards get loose we don't know what kind of backup they've got waiting." He nodded at Spencer, "Remember, draw them to the traps and you get going on those exorcisms... do NOT enter the trap no matter what they say!"

"Understood."

"And no matter what happens you keep going till the demons are out of the hosts, you may lose some of 'em." He squeezed the young mans' shoulder.

Spencer nodded and as directed began to incant the exorcism that would set the man on the ground free while Bobby, with his shotgun across his chest ran toward the succubus and the two boys he loved like sons.

On the ground the body of the man, under the pressure of holy words in the air began to buck and the demon within to curse and taunt the FBI agent. All around them, only the sounds of the two distinct voices seemed to matter, none of the other scuffles made a sound as sidhe emerged from shadows to shoot sleep-draught laden darts at fleeing hosts then drag them with surprising strength toward the nearest trap, one or two of them even had igigi lingering close by, scooping handfuls of demon into their piggish slavering mouths. A shiver ran up Spencer's spine and the true nature of what he'd gotten involved in crested and loomed over his psyche very much like a wave threatening to fall on the world he knew and replace it with a world he didn't in which only the merest fragments of reality remained identifiable. _No, not yet, there'll be time later._ He assured himself and discovered a huge sense of gratitude that every one of these new friends was doing everything possible to shield him while still allowing him to be part of what was happening. _There are eleven of us... eleven's a number of power._

On the ground the hosts' scream as the column of demon smoke erupted into the sky brought his attention back to the moment, and the realization that somehow the sound had been turned back on. Charging footsteps snapped his head up, his gaze fixing quickly on an athletic blonde with murder in her eyes storming at him over the tarmac. _Looks like J.J._ he noted throwing himself out of her path. He raised the shotgun, sighted quickly and squeezed the trigger before he remembered, he hadn't reloaded it yet.

OOooOO

"DEAN STOP!" Sam called bursting through the back door while Lilith ran out the front, using the wraith's attack on Laura to aid her escape. "DEAN!" He curled his arm around his brother's neck, trying to peel him from the barely gasping woman on the floor.

Her eyes fell to Sam's as another shotgun blast ripped the night from down the street, "Get her..." Laura croaked bringing her hands up sharply against the inside of Dean's elbows, breaking his grip on her throat and leaving her panting hard for air.

Sam rose, edged to the front door and wavered.

"Go!" she choked and reached up head butting the wraith before throwing Dean's body off to the side and turning the tables by pinning his arms up under his own back. In the doorway Sam turned and ran after Lilith's host.

_C'mon sweetie, kick this fucker to the curb! Don't make me bind you... you can do this easy!_ Laura thought trying to will him any strength he might need to do the job himself. With everything else he'd discovered lately, about what he'd suffered and what he'd done in hell, as well as what he was destined to do, he needed an internal 'win' and there was nothing that would stop her from helping him achieve that.

The wraith saw its opportunity and bucked its hosts' body turning his once crystal green eyes to hers, the writhing shades of chalky gray and black an unmistakable sign as to the depth of its grip on him.

"Fight this thing Dean!" she called, "You're stronger than any pissy little wraith!"

His arm came like a two by four, batting her across the hall and into the wall where she hung for a moment before breaking free of the plaster and landing on her feet.

"_Enki you must stand up to this thing and protect your vessel!" _She urged stalking toward him.

"No amount of praying will save you." The creature taunted.

"He will fight you and he _will_ win." She smiled as they crouched in mirrored positions and the circling began.

"He is weak and a coward," it sneered, "afraid of his own power. But I'm not afraid, so now what was his is mine." It leaped through the few feet separating them, in its right hand the machete had returned to its originally forged state and its edge came toward her neck powered by a wide driving arc.

OOooOO

_Don't hurt her Dean, please._ After all, Sam knew she'd never hurt Dean. _Where'd she go... I have to end this. I'll never have another chance like this. _He searched the shadows, reaching out with his senses, listening for footfalls, feeling shifts in the air currents, smelling wafting tendrils of fear criss crossing through the cul de sac, and watching for moving variations in brightness that could easily betray an ancient demon on the run, _but not more ancient than we... you don't stand a chance against me Lamashtu... you're right to run_. Power coursed through him, everything coming to a head fueling his fire and stoking the will of the divinity within. _I have lived for millennia before you, and I will live for millennia after you are dust._

"_MY KING!" _ The cry drew his attention upward, _"This way!" _ Imdugud hovered, a line of locust dotting the trail for Marduk to follow.

The sound of footfalls turned Sam's head to the right as Bobby rounded the corner, his shotgun across his chest, racing toward the young hunter, "Go boy Go!" he urged.

"Get to the house!" Sam directed and took off after the trail of locust, _save them_.

Rows of shrubs that towered even over the youngest Winchester lined the neighboring yards, separating one from another as he followed the trail of humming insects into the darkness. Trees grew comparatively massive in the yards leaving the succubus far too many places to hide. Sam drew to a halt at one of the hovering insects, then brought his hand up beneath it and brought it close to his mouth, _"Tell your master, summon igigi, watch for her."_ It dashed into the sky as he followed the continued trail of its brethren into the dark.

OOooOO

"...en nomine deos sancti..." Spencer puffed wincing as the scream of the demon fleeing its host filled his ears, _"... the tool has been awakened. It will kill them all and the empty vessel will be born to the world bringing with it hell onto the earth."_ The demon's words echoed in his head.

He lurched to his feet, oriented himself and raced toward the central cul de sac, the exact same direction he'd seen Bobby run. Before he reached the next corner a pair of sidhe appeared before him, their bows crossed to bar his way, "I have to tell them!" he slowed and halted before them.

He knew neither of them was the warrior Mustardseed, but it didn't change the fact that they were looking out for him. He turned a brief thought to Morgan, grateful that the far more experienced man had taken to him like his very own big brother, and wondered if he'd ever see him again.

"You have to hold the perimeter! Go!" he ordered wondering when he'd become able to see the dark swatches of igigi swirling in the velvet blue of the wee hours, all of them hunting and seeking demons on which to feed. The traps, each of them drawn into the perimeter they'd created within the veil, eleven of them were full with human hosts piled on top of one another as the ancient carrion eaters drew the demons out of them, sparing the humans not a single agony. The young man raced forward, taking the chance he had to by leaving everything else behind.

The closer he came to the epicenter the quieter everything became. Night sounds returned, the buzzing of Imdugud's swarm in the night, the occasional cricket, the rustling of large plants as large creatures pushed through them drew him onward. He followed the sounds, moving as quietly as he could through the shadows. He knew better than to call out and instead listened, a moment from his past came crashing back, a night in a cornfield, chasing a multiple personality messianic serial killer, J. J. was headed toward the barn. Pain as something collided into his skull, then something else and then blackness before the pain and fear ebbed and flowed for days, the quantity of which he had to be told. There was torture, there was a moment of blessed release as he died and yet more pain when he was brought back, and there was fear. It was the fear that had scarred him, pain dulled and was eventually forgotten, that was the bliss of the human condition, but fear was what left the deepest scars.

It all returned as another blonde stepped in front of him, her hands clamped on his shoulders, her fingers digging agonizingly into the joint capsules as her eyes turned solid white.

"Well what have we here," her lips curled back over her teeth sending Spencer's heart racing as his tongue tripped over the beginning of the ritual he'd been using all night, the opening nearly escaping him as he started to stammer even as her hand closed on his throat.

The words choked in his throat and stars danced in his eyes as her grip tightened. The world went quiet and darkness encroached at the edges of his vision until just as he felt himself diving into unconsciousness, he felt the ground beneath him and as his vision cleared he saw Sam standing a handful of yards away, his hand outstretched while copper veins of light and energy crackled over, through, and all around him.

Across the side yard he could see Lilith's host pressed and apparently somehow pinned against the side of a shed. A hand grasped him under the arm and hauled him to his feet, "Get back to the perimeter kid, yer outta your depth here." Bobby growled into his ear.

Lilith reached out toward Sam and though air stirred and light flashed the embodied deity stood unmoving before her. He turned his hand palm up and with it, the corner of his mouth turned ever so slightly.

From a few yards away Bobby and Spencer stood waiting, sensing something about to happen as Lilith's host body jerked against the shed wall and trickle of black smoke fell from her mouth and nose.

"No! You can't... you're not strong enough!" she choked before the body started to gag and shudder with the next outflow of smoke, this time small rivers sprang forth as she seemed to hiccough.

A scant second later as Sam started to close his fist, preparing to smother the life out of the ancient entity the body against the wall pitched its head backward and screamed loosing a flood of demon smoke into the night.

"NNNOOOOOOO!" Sam screamed enraged as the column twined and evaded narrowly the swirling masses of igigi to disappear into the darkness.

Against the shed wall the host collapsed to the ground.

"Mustardseed!" Bobby called then pointed to the woman as soon as the sidhe appeared, "Dart!" he indicated.

The warrior needed nothing else, a sleep draught dart lodged itself into her neck and before she had any idea of anything at all, she was out again.

"Thanks." He nodded as the warrior returned to his post at the perimeter then turned to Sam dropping his hand onto the young man's shoulder, "We need to get those demons in the traps exorcised, whatever of 'em's left that is and get this cleaned up before sunrise."

"I had her Bobby... she abandoned the host...." he shook his head and angled his face upward, "IMDUGUD!" he screamed furiously but there was no response from the demi-god and all around them the swarm was gone. Every fiber of his being trembled with a boiling rage he was hard pressed to contain. Instead he turned, his arm and hand shaking as he raised it toward a tree in the rear of the yard. Frustration burst out of him, exploding the base of the tree out from under the rest of it. The thunder rolled outward as his lips curled back over his teeth and while drawing back his right hand, thrust his left forward exploding what was left of the woody giant.

As splinters and freshly rendered mulch rained down over the area he collected himself and turned looking from Bobby to Spencer, both of them stunned pale with a tinge of green. Neither of them could have suspected he might be harboring that level of power.

Sam looked at Bobby, "Dean and Laura..." he said then motioned to the woman instructing Spencer, "Bring her, I can't touch her." He caught the look of curiosity on the young man's face and explained, "If I do I'll kill her."

"Ohkay," Spencer nodded and with Bobby's help hoisted the woman over his shoulders while Sam took off at a run back to the house where he'd last seen Dean and Laura preparing for what appeared to be mortal combat. _Please let them both be okay, please!_

OOooOO

A sharp singing metallic 'clang' penetrated the night as Sam neared the house, an obvious sound of battle that quickened his pace. Light flickered and crashing vibrations of destruction moved the air around him as he burst back through the front door, managing to move quietly until he could assess the situation, _I failed to kill Lamashtu but I won't fail the ones I love. _

He turned to the right following the sounds of the fight into the living room and stood staring at the sight of his big brother leaning over Laura, his sword in hand and pressing downward with all his weight behind it while her hands, protected by ruby colored mail gauntlets that her own short sword had become, held his blade aloft.

"_You must come forward my love." _Her voice rolled out into the room and Dean's body seemed to release a little.

"He will not win!" the wraith inside spat venomously in spite of the fact that it was greatly weakened by the protracted battle against the inhuman female.

"He already has." She smirked and managed to throw him back and off of her, the gauntlets quickly shifted, elongating and joining together at her fingertips to become a bo.

His sword came down across the bar and as she raised it up to intercept the blow the wraith stepped forward with a driving fist that sent her stumbling over an end table.

At the entryway to the living room Sam snarled and raised his hand, his eyes flared the color of hot bronze as Dean's body was literally picked up and flung across the room and into a brick wall beside the fireplace. _You don't get to hurt her! _If he'd taken a moment to look he would have seen a shifting in the color of his big brother's eyes, the churning gray and black giving way, being burnt out slowly by the growing copper brightness that told of Dean's hard earned, coming victory over the evil being that had pounced on his doubts and insecurities and tried to usurp his power for its own ends. But Sam's rage and frustration left his vision clouded, the power of his emotions on the verge of overwhelming him.

Laura, on all fours, dazed and tired frowned watching Dean fly across the room. In her hands, the bo drew together and broadened while flattening into a shiny shield that protected her upper body.

"_Marduk? Release him... Dean is winning... he will defeat this interloper." _

Sam's eyes burned and flicked to her, _"He hurt you... AGAIN! How many times are you going to allow him to do you harm!?" _

Pinned to the wall the wraith sneered, looking back and forth between the two. The expression on his face was a dead giveaway to the fact that the creature inside the man could not understand a word of the ancient tongue.

She rose to her feet and strode to the young man, the other two, standing in the front doorway continued to watch unseen as she stood before the vessel of her soul's son and cupped his cheek, _"He could never truly harm me my son, you know this as well as you know his heart. Destruction is not his nature." _

Sam pressed his cheek into her hand, a sigh escaped his lips, _"Why has he let this... THING... use him like this?" _Breath shuddered in his chest, _"I don't understand why he's allowed it!" _

She drew his head down to hers so their foreheads were pressed together, _"His reasons are his own, they are not for us to know." _

"_Do YOU know?" _He asked rubbing his temple against hers.

She shrugged and smiled, _"He was the first. His power and desire brought life to an entire world, and that very same power and desire helped create the king who would surpass his sire,"_ she stroked his cheek and reminded him, _"Perhaps that same power is enough to end it all... including the ones he loves...Perhaps the power you embrace so easily is not so great, nor as potentially terrible as your father's after all. Perhaps his fear is less fear than prudence." _ She whispered conspiratorially.

Sam's head drew back, his expression though confused and obviously surprised by the idea of the possibility, quickly became shrouded in neutrality but the questioning in his eyes was not so easy to hide.

They turned as one to Dean who hung pressed against the wall, the black and gray roiling in his eyes slowly burned away by the growing strength of coppery light as his focus held firm on two of the people who mattered most to him in the world.

"Sssam?" he ground between clenched teeth.

The young hunter turned to his brother, closing the distance between them quickly.

Dean's hand raised up and fell gently on the younger man's shoulder, "You can draw it out without killing me now." He panted and gave a half smirk half smile that told the youngest Winchester, it was indeed his big brother who was talking.

"You sure?" Sam asked, "It could hurt you."

"Hurt when you shot me too..."

"Which time?" Sam asked blushing with the memories.

"Pick one."

"Jerk," Sam smiled shaking his head.

"Yeah yeah..." Dean nodded, his vision growing hazy as he panted through the pain of something inside him dying. The lack of a proper retort told Sam exactly just how bad off Dean really was. It took a moment before he realized in the darkness that the older man's clothes were glossy with blood, not sweat, and he suddenly understood why Laura had allowed him to toss her around. She'd been healed, he hadn't. _Why didn't you just bind him like you were supposed to!? _But again, he thought he probably knew. Dean needed to win this battle between him and the wraith on his own, without interference, without help.

The same cold greasy sweat he'd become far too familiar with over the last few years covered him again as he squeezed his little brother's shoulder. "I won Sam... it's enough. Just get it out of me."

The request for help jerked on the younger man's heart, his previous anger sliding away along with his uncertainties and fear of failure. There was something more important than his own desire for vengeance, and justice, there was a need for him to help and that meant more than anything else.

With a pat on the arm Laura moved to the front door where Bobby and Spencer stood watching everything unfold, "Outside you two..." she directed, "Can't take a chance on it getting in either of you."

"You okay?" Bobby asked just before Spencer could.

"I need a nap." She nodded smiling tiredly then closed the door behind them after shooing them out onto the porch.

Stiffly she lowered herself to the bottom step and nodded at Sam's questioning look, "Do it."

"Is it dead?" Sam asked his brother.

"Mostly dead all day..." Dean panted the joke as another spurt of blood from his side wound re-wet his shirt, "s'gonna hafta be enough Sammy."

"If you weren't wounded could you do it yourself?" Sam asked.

"Well I sure as hell wouldn't be hanging on the wall, bound by my..." he shook his head, the fact that he was confused was obvious, "son?" he asked weakly, "Who are you t'me Sam? I mean b'sides everything?"

Sam felt his eyes flood and shook his head while raising his hand, "I don't know anymore Dean," he whispered helplessly then gathered his focus.

OOooOO

"Dean?" Sam tapped the older man's cheeks, "Dean... c'mon man, talk t'me." He'd been unconscious for almost ten minutes while the sidhe re-closed his wound, and now that the blood flow had once again been staunched the youngest Winchester was starting to get nervous.

"HEY!" Came through the front door with the sound of a pounding fist, "Y'all okay in there!?" Bobby called, his expression twisted with several emotions, not the least of which was a little more than just a little fear while he cracked the door and peered through the slim opening.

Laura waved him in, but he didn't arrive alone. Spencer, pale and pasty looking with very wide and uncertain eyes followed, and just behind him a swirling mass of locust in the formation of a tube, very much like that which had contained the igigi... and inside that column writhed a mass of black demon smoke, behind that column drenched in solemnity and barely contained wrath, entered Imdugud.

Sam's head turned, his eyes locking onto the swirling column of insects and the black smoke contained within them. He read Imdugud's look and dared to hope before he asked in wonder, "Is that...?"

"A gift my king." The demi-god shot him a very self-satisfied grin before bowing deeply and approaching the two men on the floor, his glance moving from Dean back to Sam, "Is the king fallen?"

"Just resting," Dean mumbled and waved his right arm in the air before it flopped back to the floor. He turned his head, squinting and trying to make sense of what he was seeing. "What the ffff..."

"It's the succubus my king..." he drew a quick breath then leaned forward sniffing the air, and very familiar with the hot metallic scent of human blood. His eyes flicked from Dean back to Sam, "he requires care! I will take him to Cernunnos."

"The sihe were here, they patched him back up again." Laura sighed pushing herself off the bottom stair. At her side Spencer gently clasped her arm and searched her features, she wasn't just exhausted, but also had taken more than a few lumps in her fight with Dean.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked glancing down to her abdomen.

She smiled gently and pressed her hand to his cheek, "I'm good, thank you." She cocked her head to the side, "Where's the host?"

"The woman?" he asked.

"On the porch," Bobby answered, "we figured it might be best to make sure it couldn't take her back."

"Imdugud?" Laura laid her hand on the enormous and stony onyx arm marveling again that his flesh was warm like desert stone. She motioned toward the front door, bringing him with her, out of earshot of her men.

"Do it Sam." Dean pushed himself upright until he was resting against the small separation between the decimated living room and the foyer.

"You were first... you _do_ have the power," the younger man spoke softly, "I can feel it. You could kill her without breaking a sweat."

Dean leaned back and closed his eyes with a faint smile on his lips, "I could." He agreed. "Killing is easy," he sighed and looked into his little brother's eyes, "I think you've seen that."

The child killer drawn and quartered on his own table returned to Sam and though he cracked a quick smile he nodded reluctantly.

"I'm good at it too," Dean breathed, "But I think for now I'll stick to something a little harder..."

Sam cocked an eyebrow questioningly at him.

"Creation." Dean smirked, "Besides... what she did to you... I felt it Sam. I felt it all. You deserve to be the one to do the job."

The young man blushed furiously, he'd had an idea that Dean knew more than he'd let on, but he couldn't have anticipated the older man experiencing everything she'd done, still he gave a faint shake of his head, "She killed your child Dean and almost killed Laura."

"Well, until we do have a kid, _you _come first. You know it, I know it and she knows it," he glanced toward the door where she was talking with Imdugud Bobby and Spencer, "why else do you think I can love her so much?"

Sam nodded and smiled, "I know."

"Vengeance is yours my king." Dean smirked as Sam rose to his full height and reached out with his hand, the glow of his power building in the depths of his eyes again as the swirling cage of locust began to glow as well before it moved to a clear place in the beginning of the hallway, between the outer living room wall and the stair case.

Laura crossed the foyer and slid to the floor beside Dean, twining his fingers in hers their heads fell together while their eyes remained glued to Sam and the swarm.

On the other side, near the front door, Imdugud stood close enough to protect Bobby and Spencer if anything should happen. They could all see the mass of Lilith's demon form roiling and pitching within the living cage, and as Sam's focus tightened and his hand turned up sparks of red and yellow popped intermittently sending the demon into a panic.

The living cage moved and bent as the fiery sparks came more frequently. They ebbed and flowed like a living thing, dancing like fire to the point where the succubus' demise was almost hypnotic. There was no sound save the crackling and the occasional pop of a locust as the ancient demon tried to break free. At one point she gave a sudden heave and lurched through a break in the insect wall rupturing like a spear toward Dean and Laura.

Laura turned quickly, straddling Dean's legs and wrapping him protectively into her arms at the same time Imdugud lurched toward them too.

Seconds later when nothing happened she turned, all of them watching stunned as the cord of escaping demon burned to dust blackening the hard wood floor until there was nothing left. Plaster dust fell, the floor trembled and buckled as the artifacts of the house, those that hadn't been demolished by Laura and Dean's fight anyway, finished falling to the floor, splitting or simply bursting with the change in pressure as the final seal was broken and the world prepared for the birth of something terrible.

Through the windows, lights from the outside flickered and exploded, car alarms blared to life and engine blocks exploded into the air like giant kernels of popcorn. A split second later every window in the cul de sac burst into rocket fire of glass shards.

"Hooooleeee hell..." Bobby breathed as the neighborhood burst into flame starting with the plant life, but many of the houses themselves quickly catching too. Heat shimmered over the sidewalk and blacktop, the asphalt looked like it was starting to breathe.

Spencer moved toward the door drawn by his curiosity about the external events and wondering if things were really that hot outside why it wasn't so inside this house as well. Fortunately Imdugud grasped him by the shirt then tossed him to the elder hunter, "These three are the only reason you're not already dust," he indicated Sam, Dean and Laura then took note of Sam's condition. The young hunter was shaking, sweating, and barely breathing for the concentration it required to contain and focus enough power to destroy the succubus. When the last speck of its essence lay among the dust breath burst out of the young hunter, and if not for Imdugud he would have fallen on his face.

In the living room the ceiling collapsed, the cloud of debris shrouding Sam from Dean's sight. The last thing he'd seen was his little brother falling.

"Sam?" Dean coughed and called the nervously, his fear easily audible. He struggled to rise but the Assyrian gave a couple quick flaps of his wings and cleared the air then lay the young man gently on the floor making sure to place his head in Dean's lap.

"He is spent my king, but he is perfectly well." The Assyrian assured him while assessing the stability of the structure that was currently keeping them all safe.

Spencer looked nervously from the inferno outside the front door back to the trio on the floor and moved quickly to lend a hand, "We have to get out of here, this place won't hold against that heat," he looked at Bobby, "how is that happening?" he asked as the door jamb burst into flames.

Bobby shook his head and helped Dean rise once Imdugud had Sam curled back into one of his arms.

"What will you do now that your war with her has ended?" Laura asked easily.

He turned and opened his hands toward the still swirling swarm, calling those that hadn't already succumbed to the rapidly rising temperature back home.

Without the winged creatures buzzing cacophony in the house, even the raging fires outside seemed nearly silent. Imdugud shrugged, that warped and rabid canine face actually smiling, "Go back to work... pestilence, famine, the burning winds and all that... protecting the offspring when called."

"We have to get out of here..." Spencer urged wiping torrents of sweat from his face as his cloths seemed to nearly vacuum seal him within them, exactly as the heat was doing to everyone else. "Besides, Lilith's gone, who is there to protect them from?" he asked.

"Help's coming kid don't worry." Bobby patted the young man's shoulder, whipped off his cap and swiped at his own rivers of sweat, pushing Spencer closer to the entryway to the family room even as flames ruptured upward from the piles of fallen debris on that side and on the other, they slavered over the hard wood floor and up the stairs.

Imdugud turned, "She may have been the first succubus, but she is certainly not the last." He turned and looked pointedly at Dean and Laura, "Now that she's dead the final seal has been broken and Lucifer will walk. I do not envy you the battles yet to come, but as it has always been... you have only to call."

Dean shook the creature's hand and nodded, "Thank you." As the floor beneath them all seemed to move, the effect of one floor seeming to hold its position while another layer moved would have been dizzying under any circumstances but until the fresh moist and far cooler air of the veiled realm helped them all clear their heads, it was downright nauseating.

Cernunnos looked over the haggard team, each of them including the sidhe covered in blood, sweat, soot and stinking of sulfuric fire; and shook his head then met Dean's eyes, "Cut it a little close don't you think?"

Sam moaned, coughed and started coming around, leaning on the Assyrian until he got his strength back, and just like everyone else, his eyes were drawn to the small town burning to the ground as Cernunnos guided the realm out of harm's way and brought it to rest once it reached the area of the Bell Rock vortex in Sedona.

OOooOO

"Isn't there some way all that can be fixed? Some kind of... I dunno spell or something?" Spencer asked, appalled by the destruction they'd simply left behind.

"Listen Spence," Dean looked from the patiently waiting sidhe just in front of the pinking horizon to the young man, "Just because the vessel Lilith was going to prep for him isn't on the list anymore doesn't mean he's not coming. You heard what Imdugud said, her death was the last seal to break. The apocalypse has started and Lucifer will walk." He dropped his hand on the young man's shoulder, understanding exactly how he felt with those wide disbelieving eyes as he shook his head at the impossibility.

"Things like Armageddon, the apocalypse, they're allegorical tales, they're cautionary they're not real!" he tried to deny.

Dean smiled gently, "Go back to your life and live it as well as you can for as long as you've got left. If you can, forget what you've seen this weekend, it'll make things a lot easier on you. But remember you're one of the good guys, if you don't fight against it you're helping it happen."

Spencer nodded, "All it takes for evil to persist is for good men to do nothing."

"Exactly." Dean smiled taking and shaking the younger man's hand, "Dr. Reid, it's been a pleasure working with you."

Spencer nodded and smiled tightly before stepping through the veil to return to the Red Roof Inn and do what he had to in order for his cover story to look legitimate when he got home. As he entered the hotel lobby he wondered if the greatest adventure of his life was over, or if everything he'd just seen and been part of was just a primer for more and greater adventures to come.

EPILOGUE

TWO DAYS LATER - FBI HEADQUARTERS – QUANTICO, VA.

11:30 P.M.

"Hey..." Morgan called lightly, pausing at the door and turning back to look at Spencer who sat at his desk apparently very deep in thought, "Y'alright kid?"

Spencer nodded and cracked a smile, "Yeah, just thinking."

"Anything you want to bounce around?" the ex-Chicago cop asked, Spencer had been quiet all day. The kid looked like he hadn't got a moment's rest all weekend and there was an eerie kind of calm around him that kinda went with the smell of sulfur that seemed to cling to him.

Dr. Reid shook his head, his smile broadening as he leaned back and glanced at the sheets of marker rubbings on his desk, "No thanks, just hypothesizing."

Morgan frowned, "You sure?"

"Yep."

"Alright Reid, see you tomorrow man."

_God willing, _he thought, "See you tomorrow." Once Morgan was gone and he was certain he was alone, Spencer leaned forward sliding aside the sheets of rubbings until he found what he was looking for, a copy of an old closed case file, beside the number on the tab was the name, Winchester.

He opened the folder looking at the mugshots taken of both Sam and Dean then skimmed their rap sheets all the way back to St. Louis. His eyes fell on the Agent In Charge's name, Victor Henricksen then pulled that file out from beneath this one and opened it, skimming sheet after sheet of detailed reports from Victor's findings written with an awful lot of FedSpeak meant to occlude the meaning of certain types of 'mysterious circumstances' to the photos of the Sheriff's station explosion that resulted in the agent's death minutes after he declared both Sam and Dean Winchester Dead in a helicopter explosion.

Leaning over he reached into his messenger bag and withdrew new leather bound snap tab journal. He cut the tags off and opened it to the first page, scratched out the pre-stamped date, double checked his calendar though he didn't have to, and began to write about the day he met Sam and Dean Winchester.

OOooOO

"Did you tell him?" Laura asked Dean while across the bar Sam had his arms wrapped around a curvaceous dark haired woman, swaying side to side while on the juke box Etta James sang about the love that finally came along.

"About which thing?" he asked.

"About the host."

"No. Not yet, he's been so thrashed since killing her I figured to give him a couple days rest," he smiled watching his little brother's lips meet the pretty girls', "Look." He nodded.

Laura smiled, "You should tell him in the morning. He needs to know the woman survived and that she's still pregnant."

Dean frowned and sighed heavily, "You don't think..." he started for about the tenth time that day.

"I don't know... like we figured earlier though... how else could she have survived a conflagration like that? Let alone without a scratch on her?"

Dean clasped her hand in his and brought it to his lips. "I'll tell him in the morning." He nodded smiling as Sam and the woman slid into a darkened corner, obviously content to take full measure of each other before probably indulging in some full pleasure.

Sam couldn't get enough of her in his hands, or enough of the taste of her, or the warm comfort of those soft curves against him as he moved her into a shadowy corner, his hands gliding and sliding, needing to feel everything he could at once.

He cupped her chin and turned her head, moving his lips from hers down to the base of her ear. Heat spread through him and his body hardened with wanting, her every moan and throaty vibration stirring him until he hurt. Breathless he rubbed his temple to hers. He filled his hands with her and breathed her in.

Nearly ready to burst with wanting he dropped his lips near her ear and panted, "Ina."

OOooOO

End.

Please R&R.

Thanks.

Sifi.


End file.
